Tweet

The Power of Critical Thinking

Guest post by: Tammy Kohl

Article Overview: In the pursuit of results and accomplishment we are all to often our biggest enemy. We accept and get very comfortable with status quo. Doing the same things over and over again will not create different or better results. However, by using the process of critical thinking you will uncover solutions and actions that will never be revealed by others or the status quo.

The Power of Critical Thinking

"The only difference between a rut and a grave ... is in their dimensions." - Ellen Glasgow

As Director of Research and Professional Development at the Center for Critical Thinking and Chair of the National Council for Excellence in Critical Thinking, Dr. Richard Paul defines critical thinking as thinking about your thinking while you’re thinking in order to make your thinking better. He goes on to say that critical thinking is not just thinking but thinking which entails self-improvement.

People get into ruts personally and professionally. Going through the motions becomes standard operating procedure and yet at the same time people complain about the lack of results, and they wish for more money or different outcomes. The ability to think critically is a powerful human ability and yet many have let their capacity for critical thinking diminish. In order to be the best ‘you’ can be and in order to accomplish everything you wish to accomplish, you need to embrace the process of critical thinking. One of the most powerful ways to improve is to question and rethink everything. Thinking just to think goes nowhere. Developing a skill of critical thinking allows us to ask questions to determine where our thinking goes and what results can be achieved. The field of Physics would not exist if Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein did not continue to ask critical questions on what was possible. Every advancement in cancer treatments has taken place because doctors keep asking the next purposeful question in order to find cures. The world is thinking differently about energy and conservation of the planet because people keep posing questions like ‘what if?’

Improved results, positive progress, and continuous improvement require questions not answers. Questions uncover problems, suggest multiple solutions, and get to the root cause quickly. So, what kind of questions spur critical thinking?

· Deep questions: help us find root cause and complexity

· Purpose questions: help us to understand the objective

· Information questions: help us make sure our source of information and the information are quality

· Interpretation questions: help us to organize information

· Assumptive questions: help us to see what we might be taking for granted

· Implication questions: help us see where our thinking is going

· Point of view questions: help understand our point of view more clearly and be accepting of differing point of view

· Relevance questions: help us to see what is really relevant to the situation

· Accuracy questions: help us make sure we are dealing with information that is correct

· Precision questions: help to have a laser focus

· Consistency questions: help ferret out inconsistencies

· Logic questions: help us consider how all the pieces fit together and everything makes sense

In the pursuit of results and accomplishment we are all too often our biggest enemy. We accept and get very comfortable with status quo. We often accept, without question, what corporations, organizations, and the media tell us. If you want to take your personal and professional results to another level then you need to start thinking about thinking with the objective of creating the best ‘you’ possible. Doing the same things over and over again will not create different or better results. However, by using the process of critical thinking you will uncover solutions and actions that will never be revealed by others or the status quo.

Related Articles
  “The Awesome Power of TO-DO Lists, According To Your Strategic Thinking Business Coach”
  Selling Power 26
  REFLECTION NOTE
  The 5 Top Power questions to ask your customer
  Playing The Game
  Powerful Strategic Networking Questions From Your Strategic Thinking Business Coach
  Critical Qualities To Achieve Credibility, According To Your Strategic Thinking Business Coach
  To decide or not decide - This is the Law of Attraction
  “The Power of Questions”
  More On Strategic Thinking
  The Strategic Use of Powerful Words, According To Your Strategic Thinking Business Coach
  Smart Women Have Personal Power
  Critical Skills Needed To Be A Strategic Thinker, According To Your Strategic Thinking Business Coach
  Wall Street Journal covers African ingenuity
  Building Strategic versus Tactical Leaders
  Autosuggestion-Be a Success By Just Thinking It!
  Talent Management in Difficult Times
  Power 3.0: Kinder, Gentler, and Better
  Inspirational Leadership: The Art Of Appreciation
  50 Power Words that Sell

Article Tags: Center for Critical Thinking, critical thinking, Dr Richard Paul, Einstein, Ellen Glasgow, Isaac Newton, questions, results, status quo
Referred by: http://www.increase-sales-coach.com



Related Forum Posts
Re: Stay positive! - Great theme My favorite book the ageless "Power of Positive Thinking" and I do not read many of these Motivational Books, Attitude is everything - a positive one is ore likely to bring positive results According to my Pisces horoscope - I am told that by my birth I am to be moody. We all have those bad days, but even though moody by nature, I tried to keep those days down to 4 or 5 a year - not bad for a Pisces Hang with the positives, lose the negatives
Women Entrepreneur Tips - Thank you LeoOliveros, I found #4 particularly true in my case: 4. The Enterprise Must Include the Power of Power Networks. As a conductor of your own enterprise, you can not see yourself as a one-woman-show. You must choose to utilize the power people in your life, by asking for help when you need it, and effectively delegating in order to capitalize on your strengths and that of your power network. When certain experts are not represented in your power network, you must actively seek advisors or mentors and develop a team of specialists, so the benefits are received by everyone involved in the power network - the true Power of Power Networks.
Napoleon on Project Management - Why do I include this in a list of books aimed at female entrepreneurs? Well...in the expectation that there are as many female history buffs as male ones, and in the belief that anyone interested in history will find this book fascinating, while those interested in project management will learn a thing or two. I think this was the first "gimmick" book - an author using a historical figure (usually a male, military figure, it must be admitted) to talk about modern day business management. I refuse to read any of the kind that advocates - even obliquely - the techniques of the Sopranos or the Mossad - but these military ones are pretty fun. Anyway: Only in the understanding of history, Napoleon might say, do we gain an understanding of strategy in the present. In the same spirit, Napoleon on Project Management offers the recipe for successfully managing your commitments using the strategies, tactics and priorities that propelled Napoleon himself to victory. [The book doesn't gloss over how Napolean eventually fell in defeat, of course, and there's lessons to be learned there as well. TOC Foreword by Douglas James Allan (Napoleanic Society of America) 1. The Rise to Power -The Skills to Succeed -A Compelling Vision -Diplomacy and Networking -Lessons from the Great Campaigns 2. Napoleon's 6 Winning Principles -Introduction -Exactitude -Speed -Flexibility -Simplicity -Character -Moral Force 3. The Downfall -What Went Wrong -Lessons from the Russian Invasion and Waterloo -The Four Critical Warning Signs -Napoleon's Legacy
Success Strategies - How to get the results you want now? Success Strategies and Action Steps I have used are: The Power of Choice Where you are at this present moment, is exactly perfect from the choices you have made. If you want to be somewhere else, you have to decide clearly what that is (your goal/outcome) and create action steps to achieve this. The Power of Focus The book "The Power of Focus" by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen and Les Hewitt, is one of my treasures in my Entrepreneur Library. If you focus on what you want versus what you do not want, your conscious and sub-conscious mind will direct attention to this. The movie, What the Bleep, Down the Rabbit Hole, explains this in detail about quantum physics and what we create in our lives. The Power of Commitment This is not about commitment to others. The first step is the commitment, your word, you make to yourself. Accountability and responsibility are additional success strategies and ingredients to creating the success, defined by you, that you want. The commitment to others reflects your integrity, your word and the team you work with. Co-workers, clients, yoru family, friends and community. My Success Acronyn in Success Breakthroughs(c) is: S pecific & self-directed U nlimited opportunities & possibilities C reate powerful outcomes C onsistent measureable results E xperience pwoerful transformation S olution and action-oriented S uccessful habits and outcomes Break Through to Powerful LIfestyle & Performance Choices Moira
Re: THE SECRET TO SUCCESS IS ALL IN YOUR HEAD...RIGHT NOW!!! - Success = Thinking (Head) + Heart (Feeling / Interest) + Hand (doing/ action). Success - H3 Robert


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Build Corporate Credit for Your Small Business

Intro to Search Engine Optimization

Executive Blind Spots

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.