For several months, culminating in my certification in June, I participated in an online course at Pearson TalentLens Critical Thinking University. My intention was to improve my own abilities and be a better resource for my clients regarding critical thinking. For me, with such an immense amount of information available to us (overload!) and with so much of it just “noise”, the ability to think critically and make sound decisions (at work and at home) is more important, even harder than ever.

The topics covered by the Critical Thinking University course are reflected in the book “Now that you’re thinking… Revolutionize your career… Transform your life.” Stedman Graham eloquently sums up the importance of critical thinking in moving the book forward:

In our world today, it is important to learn the art of critical thinking. Critical thinking is needed to cut through the noise of other people’s opinions that swirl around you like the mist of darkness that threatens to engulf your soul. Surrounded by experts and salespeople who mostly make unsubstantiated claims, you need a disciplined thinking style to establish your own authentic identity. Sifting through experiences in search of the dream of a future uniquely theirs is a task for critical thinking and development. When everyone has access to a deluge of information, becoming a master thinker is very important to your lifelong security.

The first part of this book is written as a story about a team of people tasked with saving the life of a terminally ill two-year-old girl.

Beginning in the Middle East, the team, including United States military personnel, must implement highly effective thinking to transcend rational, emotional, and political challenges along the way. It’s an incredible and emotional story of determination, persistence, going the extra mile, and employing strong critical thinking skills along the way.

The rest of the book focuses on their thinking styles and abilities, like the reader’s, as follows:

Chapter 1. How Your Mind Works – Assembly Required

The first thing to understand is that thinking is a abilitynot inherent giftSo it’s something you can improve. Three important areas of your mind, according to the authors, are dreams (goals, desires), feelings, and thinking, and you want all three to be in sync. Dreams determine the direction of your behavior, and therefore, in order to make the most of your thinking abilities, you need to know what is important in your life and what is not.

Feelings create momentum and speed, which is necessary to move forward and take action. Emotions can best help you achieve a dream when they are in control, however, when your feelings and emotions become “amplified”, an imbalance is created that makes it more difficult to make good judgments.

The authors write that “thinking plays a key role in recognizing and evaluating life-changing opportunities, solving difficult problems, and making sound decisions.” Thought should also act as an emergency brake when feelings run too fast. Accessing your thinking side during everyday situations will greatly enhance your life, allowing you to be in control, shape intentional behavior, and move in a positive direction.

Chapter 2. A new way of thinking

An expert in any field learns to organize and group information around principles. This allows the expert to quickly extract information when necessary. A novice organizes information in a more random and error-prone way. By putting a thought pattern in your head, you are organizing important steps and information, which helps you learn faster and more efficiently. A blueprint, like a recipe, helps you see the ingredients and steps to success. These are the five steps of a model that can become a valuable part of your own thinking.

Five steps to new thinking

1. Stop and think: Being able to stop and think is a reflexive skill; it’s the ability to stop and figure out what kind of thinking skill you need right now. By thinking reflectively, you put yourself in a position to identify the real problem or put small problems into perspective so you don’t waste valuable time and energy.

2. Recognize assumptions: Assumptions, statements, or beliefs that you assume to be true operate almost automatically, so you take them for granted without checking the facts. They are useful because they save you time, but the problem with assumptions is that they are sometimes wrong. Therefore, learn to recognize assumptions by distinguishing fact from opinion and identifying stated versus unstated assumptions.

3. Evaluate information: Before taking advantage of an opportunity, you must evaluate its merits. When trying to choose between alternatives, you must rank their relative strengths and weaknesses. To make a good choice, it is necessary to evaluate the information. Ask yourself (over and over): “Is the information relevant to my keys to success?” and “Is the information accurate?” It is also important to look at the source of the information. Finally, ask yourself, “Am I being objective?” Through this question, you stop to take a closer look at what you are seeing or hearing.

4. Draw conclusions: We would like to think that we accurately evaluate the information and draw a conclusion that follows logically from the information; every time. Unfortunately, mistakes often occur at the intersection between evaluating information and drawing conclusions, including two common mistakes: jumping to conclusions and overgeneralizing. Good decision making (or problem solving) is about drawing conclusions that follow logically from accurate and relevant information. Use deductive and inductive reasoning skills to make the connection between information and the conclusion.

5. Develop an action plan: An action plan helps you anticipate the consequences and brings your decision to life. The type of planning required depends, to some extent, on the type of decision. However, as you move from decision to action, three questions will help you get off to a good start: What are the consequences of this decision? What plans need to be made to implement this decision? What types of resources are needed to implement this decision?

Chapter 3. Take stock of your style

In this chapter, the authors discuss using the My Thinking Styles assessment to determine preferred thinking styles. They then discuss the various resulting styles: analytical, inquisitive, insightful, open-minded, systematic, timely, and truth-seeking; as well as how to make the best use of one’s preferred thinking styles.

Chapter 4 is titled Change the way you think… Revolutionize your career… Transform your life; and provides suggestions for putting it all together to develop as a great thinker. As the authors write: “Critical thinking is about taking charge of your own thinking and owning your life. Totally!”

The book concludes by explaining some common mind traps, such as fundamental attribution error, selfish bias, confirmation bias, anchoring, framing effect, groupthink, optimism bias, planning fallacy, and sunk cost. .

Note: A New of Way Thinking is based on Pearson’s RED model of critical thinking. The RED model (Recognize Assumptions, Evaluate Arguments, and Draw Conclusions) stems from more than 85 years of research on critical thinking. This research program is primarily based on the Watson-GlaserTM Critical Thinking Assessment II, a leading assessment of critical thinking ability.