How To Have Good Critical Thinking?

I find many articles on the internet talking about critical thinking on the professional level.

In my opinion, critical thinking is a fundamental capability we should apply daily. However, not everyone can understand its importance of it.

As the youngest in my family, questioning everything is sometimes considered a rebel. I don’t understand why people around me often say, “Don’t respond when an older person advises you” instead, they ask me just sit down and listen.

Not only that, but I think the culture in my country also supports the weakness of critical thinking. Like you’re labeled as kindness person just because you are not a person who likes to argue.

Why does critical thinking matter?

Somehow, I used to question everything since I was a kid. From trivial things, why do we have to do this, to things considered extreme, such as God and religion

Sometimes, my mom worried that I get lost because here, religion is entirely forbidden to be questioned. My siblings think I’m arrogant when I argue about something. Some of my friends think my curiosity is annoying and impolite.

All those negative-label successes made me feel I’m so bad. That ever shaped me into a people pleaser at that time.

Here are some harmful effects that I feel when there is no critical thinking in my life

• Somebody easily took advantage of me.
• I’m easily involved in fraud.
• I just follow the crowd to determine the decision I’m going to make.
• I’m easily trapped by biased judgments.
• Easy to be a gaslighting victim

It took years till I finally realized there was nothing wrong with my curiosity. I just need a strong why before doing anything.

“We must dare to think about ‘unthinkable things’ because when things become ‘unthinkable,’ thinking stops and action becomes mindless.” — J. William Fulbright.

Even those wild questions that made me more confident in my god weren’t just because of following in my parent’s footsteps.

I feel I have an independent mind when I can apply critical thinking in my daily life.

How to practice?

“The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.” — Albert Einstein.

In fact, critical thinking is not a skill you can own for a second. It took years to practice and there will be no end to continue improving.

If you browse, there are 5 important aspects to hone critical thinking such as questioning, identity, analysis, communication, and decision making.

The 5 points above are theoretically correct and more measurable. But let me give you some more relevant approaches

#1 Discuss with strangers

I didn’t make friends online seriously, but I utilize this to discuss something I can’t do with my surroundings.

If you experienced chat using mIRC where at that time we still go to the internet cafe to chat and don’t need to log in email so we can take a random username to talk with many strangers.

Since there are no IP addresses or accounts we own, I can ask for everything freely. It is such a relief because strangers will give you a pure objective opinion about something.

Even better, they don’t have any labels on you from the start, so they can minimize biased perspectives.

Now, more ways can be done like using some friendship app, utilizing quora, doing random polling on your social media, and many more.

#2 Do comprehend research

I believe we aren’t live in black and white where everything can be labeled as correct or incorrect only.

When doing research, you are not only collecting as much data as you can but how to learn to step back on the situation before and be eager to see all the angles before making judgments or decisions.

Smart isn’t enough here because you also need to learn to put yourself in other shoes to exactly understand every different perspective with you.

I broaden my perspectives by reading books from various authors, watching multiple genre movies, and making friends from different backgrounds and areas.

You may also have your own version of the method.

Final Thought

“Critical thinking and curiosity are the keys to creativity.”

— Amala Akkineni.

The more I learn about critical thinking, the more I realize the core to achieving it is being an active learner.

Do not easily believe something is true just because everyone thinks so.

Don’t feel guilty about your curiosity because it means there is something you are learning.

And don’t let other people define who you are because they don’t have the right to.