9780131738591

You are what you think! Take control of your thinking . . . and start living life to the fullest! In just 25 days, you can discover how to cut through lies, gain insight, and make smarter choices in every area of your life - from work and money to your intimate relationships. Discover how to overcome bad thinking habits caused by self-delusion or out-of-control emotions . . . clarify what you really want . . . recognize what you don't know. Ask the right questions . . . resist brainwashing, manipulation, and hypocrisy . . . Avoid worrying, conformism, and blame! 25 powerful ways to improve your thinking-and make smarter, better decisions. Stop deceiving yourself: Overcome built-in self-delusion, wishful thinking, and worrying. Use better thinking to make better decisions at work, at home, and throughout your life. Critically evaluate what you're told by advertisers, politicians, your boss . . . even your family! Quick, practical, easy to use! Includes daily/weekly action plans, progress notes, and more.

Dr. Linda Elder is President of the Foundation for Critical Thinking and Executive Director of the Center for Critical Thinking, a leading international institute that promotes critical thinking in every domain of human life. An educational psychologist, she has developed an original stage theory of critical thinking development and coauthors a column on critical thinking for The Journal of Developmental Education. She is highly published and has done original research into the relation of thought and emotion and into the stages of critical thinking development. She is a regular keynoter at the International Conference on Critical Thinking, is highly sought after as a presenter, and is a recognized leader in critical thinking.

Dr. Richard Paul is Director of Research and Professional Development at the Center for Critical Thinking and Chair of the National Council for Excellence in Critical Thinking. He is an internationally recognized authority on critical thinking, with nine books and more than 200 articles on the subject. His views on critical thinking have been canvassed in the New York Times, Education Week, The Chronicle of Higher Education, American Teacher, Reader’s Digest, Educational Leadership, Newsweek, and U.S. News and World Report.

The works of Linda Elder and Richard Paul have been translated into Spanish, French, German, Italian, Japanese, and Chinese. Translations are underway in Russian, Malay, and Korean. The growing demand for translations into increasing numbers of languages testifies to the emerging international recognition of the importance of critical thinking in human life and work and of the authoritative nature of the contribution of Paul and Elder in the field.

The Foundation for Critical Thinking seeks to promote essential change in society through the cultivation of fair-minded critical thinking, thinking predisposed toward intellectual empathy, humility, perseverance, integrity, and responsibility. In a world of accelerating change, intensifying complexity, and increasing interdependence, critical thinking is now a requirement for economic and social survival. Contact the Foundation for Critical Thinking at www.criticalthinking.org.

Preface

xv

Improve Your Thinking, Improve Your Life

xix

Can Your Thinking Be Your Problem?

xx

A How-to List for Dysfunctional Living

xxii

Taking Thinking Seriously

xxiii

No Intellectual Pain, No Intellectual Gain

xxiii

The Twenty-Five-Day Plan

xxiv

Expanding to a Twenty-Five-Week Plan

xxv

When You Reach the Payoff Point

xxvi

Tips for Internalizing Each Idea

xxvii

Planning and Logging Your Progress

xxviii

A Caveat

xxviii

Before You Begin

xxix

This is the day to empathize with others

1

(2)

Day One: Learn to Empathize with Others

2

(1)

"Okay, so what's your dumb idea?"

This is the day to discover your ignorance

3

(4)

Day Two: Develop Knowledge of Your Ignorance

4

(3)

"But if my beliefs weren't true, I wouldn't believe them."

This is the day for integrity

7

(3)

Day Three: Beware of Hypocrisy and Notice Contradictions in Your Life

8

(2)

"What contradictions?"

This is the day to catch yourself being selfish

10

(3)

Day Four: Be Fair, Not Selfish

11

(2)

"I'm not nearly as selfish as some people I know."

This is the day to target purposes

13

(3)

Day Five: Know Your Purpose

14

(2)

"But I already know what I want to do."

This is the day to be clear

16

(3)

Day Six: Clarify Your Thinking

17

(2)

"But my thinking is already clear."

This is the day to be relevant

19

(3)

Day Seven: Stick to the Point

20

(2)

"I would if I could figure out what it is."

This is the day to ask deep questions

22

(3)

Day Eight: Question, Question, Question

23

(2)

"But questioning just gets you into trouble."

This is the day to think through implications

25

(3)

Day Nine: Think Through Implications

26

(2)

"But how can I enjoy life if I have to think through everything?"

This is the day to get control of your emotions

28

(3)

Day Ten: Get Control of Your Emotions

29

(2)

"I am not angry!"

This is the day to take control of your desires

31

(3)

Day Eleven: Take Control of Your Desires

32

(2)

"I can't help what I want!"

This is the day to be reasonable

34

Day Twelve: Be Reasonable

35

"I am always reasonable."

This is the day to show mercy

31

(9)

Day Thirteen: Show Mercy

38

(2)

"But I do know better than most people."

This is the day to think for yourself

40

(4)

Day Fourteen: Don't Be a Conformist

41

(3)

"Why should I go it alone?"

This is the day to abandon domination

44

Day Fifteen: Don't Be a Top Dog

45

"But if I'm not on the top, I might get trampled."

This is the day to be independent

41

(10)

Day Sixteen: Don't Be an Underdog

48

(3)

"But it's easier if others take the lead."

This is the day to stop worrying

51

(3)

Day Seventeen: Don't Be a Worrywart

52

(2)

"I can't help worrying. I learned it from my mom."

This is the day to stop blaming your parents

54

(3)

Day Eighteen: Stop Blaming Your Parents

55

(2)

"But look at all these emotional scars!"

This is the day to critique the news media

57

(4)

Day Nineteen: Don't Be Brainwashed by the News Media

58

(3)

"I thought reporters had to be objective. That's their job."

This is the day to notice the vested interest of politicians

61

(3)

Day Twenty: Don't Be Bamboozled by Politicians

62

(2)

"Sure there are some crooked politicians, but most are honest."

This is the day to be a citizen of the world

64

(3)

Day Twenty-One: Strive to Be a Citizen of the World

65

(2)

"But my country is the best!"

This is the day to critique TV, movies, and ads

67

(3)

Day Twenty-Two: Don't Get Your Views from TV, Ads, and Movies

68

(2)

"Well, I do watch a lot of TV, but I'm not influenced by what I watch."

This is the day to contribute something to the world

70

(3)

Day Twenty-Three: Do Something, Anything, to Help Make the World Better

71

(2)

"Why bother? The world is too messed up for me to make difference."

This is the day to begin to educate yourself

73

(3)

Day Twenty-Four: Educate Yourself

74

(2)

"But I went to college!"

This is the day to develop a plan

76

(3)

Day Twenty-Five: Figure Out Where to Go from Here

77

(2)

"You mean there's more?"

Reading Backwards

79

(2)

Daily Action Plan

81

(1)

Daily Progress Notes

82

(1)

Weekly Action Plan

83

(1)

Weekly Progress Notes

84

(1)

Recommended Readings to Augment the Strategies

85

(2)

Index

87

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Preface Preface "Thinking leads man to knowledge. He may see and hear, and read and learn whatever he pleases, and as much as he pleases; he will never know anything of it, except that which he has thought over, that which by thinking he has made the property of his own mind."--Pestalozzi There is nothing we do as humans that does not involve thinking. Our thinking tells us what to believe, what to reject, what is important, what is unimportant, what is true, what is false, who are our friends, who are our enemies, how we should spend our time, what jobs we should pursue, where we should live, who we should marry, how we should parent. Everything we know, believe, want, fear, and hope for, our thinking tells us. It follows, then, that the quality of our thinking is the primary determinant of the quality of our lives. It has implications for how we go about doing literally everything we do. The quality of your work is determined by the quality of your thinking as you reason through the problems you face as you work. The quality of your relationships is determined by the thinking you do about and in those relationships. Right now, as you read this book, the very sense you make of it is a product of your thinking. Your ability to understand and internalize the ideas it contains will be determined by the quality of your thinking as you read it. Therefore, learning to think at the highest level of quality, or to think critically, is too important to leave to chance. Critical thinking is the disciplined art of ensuring that you use the best thinking you are capable of in any set of circumstances. Through developed critical capacities, you can take command of the thinking that commands you. No matter what your circumstance or goals, no matter where you are or what problems you face, you are better off if you are in control of your thinking. As a professional, parent, citizen, lover, friend, shopper--in every realm and situation of your life--skilled thinking pays off. Poor thinking, in contrast, inevitably causes problems, wastes time and energy, and engenders frustration and pain. Becoming a critical thinker requires that you learn to observe, monitor, analyze, assess, and reconstruct thinking of many sorts in many dimensions of human life. It requires building important habits of mind. It has implications for every act that takes place in your mind. It requires a special form of dedication and perseverance, honesty and integrity. It can be done only if taken seriously and pursued throughout a lifetime. This book shows you how to use your mind to improve your mind. Each of the ideas in this book can help you take command of the mind that is controlling your thoughts, emotions, desires, and behavior. Our hope is not in a miracle transformation, but in laying a foundation for your future intellectual and emotional growth. We are merely scratching the surface of deep and complex topics. We do not provide a quick fix, but rather places to begin. When you begin to take your intellectual growth seriously, you begin to see payoffs in every part of your life. But first, you must wake up your mind. You must begin to understand your mind. You must begin to see when it is causing you problems. You must begin to see when it is causing others problems. You must learn how to trap it when it tries to hide from itself (using one of the many forms of self-deception at which it is naturally skilled). You must discover some of the trash and nonsense you have unknowingly taken in during years of passive absorption--to which all of us are subject. This book shows you how to begin. The quality of your life is determined by the quality of your thinking. Thinking gets us into trouble because we often are unclear, muddled, or confused jump to conclusions fail to think-through implications lose track of our goals are unrealistic focus on the trivial do not notice contradictions accept inaccurate information ask vague questions give vague answers ask loaded questions ask irrelevant questions confuse questions of different types answer questions we are not competent to answer come to conclusions based on inaccurate or irrelevant information ignore information that does not support our view make inferences not justified by our experience distort data and state it inaccurately fail to notice the inferences we make come to unreasonable conclusions fail to notice our assumptions often make unjustified assumptions miss key ideas use irrelevant ideas form confused ideas form superficial concepts misuse words ignore relevant viewpoints cannot see issues from points of view other than our own confuse issues of different types are unaware of our prejudices think narrowly think imprecisely think illogically think one-sidedly think simplistically think hypocritically think superficially think ethnocentrically think egocentrically think irrationally fail to reason well through problems make poor decisions are poor communicators have little insight into our ignorance Improve Your Thinking, Improve Your Life This book is about how to improve your thinking to improve your life. Why thinking? Why is thinking significant? Why try to improve your thinking? The answer is simple: only through thinking can you change whatever it is about your life that needs changing (even the parts you don't know need changing). Only through thinking can you take command of your future. Sound too simple? Read on. Humans constantly think. Indeed, thinking is the main thing we do. From the minute we wake up in the morning, we begin thinking. During all of our waking hours, we are thinking. We cannot escape our thinking, even if we want to. Right now you are thinking about whether to take seriously what we are saying. In other words, thinking is happening in your mind every moment of your waking life, structuring your feelings, shaping your desires, and guiding your actions.1The way you think about parenting determines how you parent. The way you think about your financial situation determines the financial decisions you make. The way you think when you are at work determines how you function on the job. The problem is that human thinking is often flawed. Many of our regrettable actions emerge from faulty reasoning. In fact, problems in thinking lead to more problems in life than perhaps any other single variable. They lead to conflict and war, pain and frustration, cruelty and suffering. Yet, most people are content with their thinking. Because the development of thinking typically is not valued in human societies, people don't tend to trace the problems in their lives to problems in their thinking. Instead, they often live the whole of their lives without recognizing the leading role that thinking plays in it. To improve your quality of life significantly, you must begin to take thinking seriously--to become a student, if you will, of thinking. You must begin to observe thinking, examine it, witness its power in action. You must be

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25 Days to Better Thinking and Better Living : A Guide for Improving Every Aspect of Your Life

25 Days to Better Thinking and Better Living : A Guide for Improving Every Aspect of Your Life

0131738593

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