5 Essential Critical Thinking Skills For Making Good Decisions

are you looking to improve your critical thinking skills or have you have have you ever been told by your manager or your boss to put more focus on critical thinking right the word let's take a look at the word critical right when the word critical in the English language refers to judgment when we are critical we're we are exuding we are putting judgment onto something it also refers to an evaluation of the merits of that thing that we see as critical right it also means crucial when something's critical it is crucial it's extremely important critical

also refers to a point of Crisis or some sort of danger right so what if the word critical is used to describe thinking as in critical thinking so what does it mean right understand that critical thinking is a form of thinking and there are many forms of thinking right for example you have habitual thinking which is BAS simply on past practices right we we have done this we've always thought this way before this is always the direction we thought of before so therefore this is the way I'm going to continue continue to think and then

we do this habitual thinking without considering our current data without considering what's what's changed since the past so it becomes a habit which is what we refer to as habitual thinking right there's also brainstorming right I'm sure you're a lot very familiar with brainstorming brainstorming is also another form of thinking and it's really when you're brainstorming you're really saying whatever comes to mind without evaluation right that that's that that's brainstorming just whatever comes to mind the first thought just write it down write it down keep writing it down and that is a form of thinking

brainstorming we also have what's called emotive thinking right and this is when we respond to the emotion that arises instead of the content of what was said so these are examples of different forms of thinking now these three forms of thinking habitual thinking brainstorming emotive thinking all of these three forms of thinking are non-critical thinking it's non-critical so I want to share with you in this video about critical thinking what are the five key skills of critical thinking right so critical thinking is different from those three forms of thinking I just shared with you but

it involves five key skills right the first skill number one is gathering knowledge this is the learning part Gathering knowledge you're Gathering bits of information data or concepts or basic elements from different sources and that's the learning part you're Gathering these things so that you can consider current data because remember habitual thinking is the absence of current data so now this is critical thinking we need to consider what is current what is now what's the new information that has developed in this time frame right what are some new considerations that I need to have that

will help me analyze more effectively we must also have knowledge of the basic elements to be acquainted with a certain discipline so basic elements include things like terminology especially if it's industry specific terms it can also be components of that that body of knowledge or that domain of knowledge this is also about knowing the interrelationships among the basic elements so for example what are the different categories of those of that information of that data what are some key principles involved in that industry or maybe some theories that are turning into solid facts and so we're

this is the learning part Gathering data is the learning part but we can't stay there critical thinking doesn't just mean Gathering data or points of information or concepts we must Elevate from knowledge because the first step is gathering knowledge and now you've grown your knowledge base but it doesn't stop there having a big knowledge base doesn't mean that now you know what to do having a a big knowledge base just means that you've G you've collected all of this information but now we got to be able to recall it and recognize the information so which

means that we must escalate from knowledge to understanding we don't stay at just knowing something the purpose of learning is not just to know something we got to go from knowing it to understanding it it means comprehending or being able to interpret information that you learned and this involves the ability to analyze the facts Analyze That knowledge base that you just acquired but it requires the mindset to acknowledge that that really there's no one single correct way to analyze and therefore understand information and not all attempts at understanding the knowledge are going to be successful

right so that's the first step Gathering knowledge but we don't stay there the intention is to increase our knowledge base but we must Elevate from knowledge to understanding then the second skill set that is important for critical thinking is evaluation this is where we evaluate arguments we're evaluating the information that we are taking in we're also evaluating experiences with utmost reflection deep inner reflection this means when you evaluate it means that you're appraising it or critiquing it on the basis of specific standards and criteria now keep in mind that evaluation is completely a conscious effort

it's also deliberate because it's conscious and deliberate this is very different from habitual thinking that I talked about earlier habitual thinking is literally it is non-deliberate it's become a habit which means that it's not no longer deliberate it's second nature we just do it because that's been the default that's just been the way we've been doing it so think about this critical think is is completely on the other end of the spectrum it's conscious and deliberate evaluation is conscious and deliberate versus habitual thinking which is not evaluation also requires an attitude of reflection versus reaction

an attitude of reaction right because when we are practicing emotive thinking we're reacting to it emotionally we're responding to our emotions but we have an initial reaction and that's usually an emotional reaction so that's involved in emotive thinking but not in critical thinking we must have an attitude of reflection because we don't learn from our experiences we learn learn from reflecting upon our experiences so that is the second skill is this the skill of evaluation skill number three the third skill is application and this is where you apply the content that is gathered from Communications

apply the content that you've gathered from how you have picked up where you've picked up those nuggets of information data Concepts theories so this is where you got to apply it and you cannot apply it until you have an understanding of it which is why going back to the first skill Gathering knowledge you can't stay there you must Elevate to an understanding from the place of understanding then you can apply application is simply the definition of that is simply using a concept or you're using a certain principle that you've gathered or data in a new

situation how do you apply it in to a new situation or how do you apply it to complete a task or how do you apply it to solve a problem right so in order to do any of these things solve a problem right in a new situation or complete a task in order for you to do any of those things you must involve coordinating a series of actions but it starts with your actions so that's why application is part of a skill of critical thinking right so we have Gathering knowledge right we have evaluation we

have application number four skill number four for critical thinking is our articulation and this is the expression of your depth of knowledge it's the actualization of your impact and potential because your potential you may know it you may know how much you know you may know how deep your knowledge goes but until you can truly articulate it until you can clearly articulate it you cannot actualize it so it's insufficient for it to be clear inside your head self-actualization requires the application of it which means we must articulate and move what's in our heads out there

and this right articulation this is what allows you to coordinate action to achieve a desired outcome to effectively apply what you have assimilated into an understanding is to be able to articulate it and all of this what I've talked to you about so far all it all accumulates to the fifth skill skill number five right but before we get there by the way if you are serious about how do I how do I do this now I'm teaching you the skills you're learning this right here in this video but if you are a established career

professional or a business owner and you're asking yourself how do I get to the next level what do I do from here and you're serious and you're committed to developing this skill of critical thinking then I invite you to book a call with me in the description below this video the first l L is a call is a link to book a call with myself and you'll be either speaking to me or a member of my team and this is where we're going to explore whether or not it's the right fit to invite you into

my coaching program where I will personally guide you and Coach you on how to develop critical thinking skills so that you can take your leadership to the next level right this is only if you are serious about taking your personal fulfillment and your leadership your career to the next level it's not for you if you're just exploring it or you're dabbling or maybe you're at the beginning of your career then this is not for you if you are serious then bookle a call below and I hope look forward to seeing you on the inside right

so so far I've shared with you the four skills but there are five all of this cumulates to skill number five which is number five is to decide what to believe or do it's a decision from articulation you move into decision because simply being involved in the process of critical thinking is not enough it's not enough to just be involved in it in order for critical thinking to be done well it must guide what we believe and it must also impact our behaviors and our actions so this is it's going to go right back to

how we make decisions so that we can be empowered to make better and better decisions that will continuously make sense to us no matter what comes our way so that is the epitome of masterful critical thinking when it is done well it guides our beliefs it guides our beliefs in very empowering ways and this is the epitome of personal development and growth so let me hear from you because a knowledge is not enough applied knowledge is what's more powerful just increasing your knowledge base is not good enough so apply it let me hear from you

comment below let me hear from what is your key takeaway from this video it's really important that we begin to be able to articulate what we've learned so that we can begin exercising our knowledge and our articulation skills so comment below and share with me what is your key takeaway and what are you going to do next what are you going to commit to next if you haven't done so already subscribe to my channel ring that Bell as well so you can be notified every time I release a new video