/@giantbear/how-to-teach-yourself-to-think-more-logically-part-1
Who is going to teach them the basics of rational thinking?
To think rationally is not the same as learning how to fly a plane or play a sport. It is not something that can be broken down into steps because it is an invisible
process.
If you think about something and then find a solution it is difficult
to describe the process of how you actually came to that specific conclusion.
What are the obstacles and consequences of the unintended thinking process?
- We learn through trial and error. We constantly practice how to think, and even though we make plenty of wrong decisions, it is a certain way to learn how to think. It could however be a high price to pay if you keep on making the wrong decisions.
- We are very limited in the ability to teach others to think. We need to understand the process of thinking before we can teach others.
- We rely too much on previous experiences, therefore, to teach a person how to handle a situation is difficult, because not everyone will solve a problem in the same way. Often, we have the skill but don’t know how to explain it to someone else.
Different Strategies for Different Situations
Every problem has a solution. This should make complete sense, but the way that
different people treat the same problem may vary considerably. Much like a doctor treating all the different diseases with the same medication. It’s not going to work, and the problem-solving tools that we use, tend to treat all problems in exactly the same way.
How do you treat different situations?
You have to compare a situation towards something that has already happened. Check what the solution was to solve the problem and then change it to fit into your situation. It might work, or it might not.
Benefits of Treating Rational Thinking as a Process
Rational thinking should be treated as a process. If you do a series of repeatable
steps, you can produce a meaningful conclusion.
Think about a Math teacher: Students are often advised by the teacher to show all the steps on how to get to an answer. If you can see all the steps of a sum you might receive more marks, or you will at least see where you made mistakes.
It should work the same when you solve a problem.
Unless you specifically understand how someone arrived at a specific conclusion, you can do nothing but criticize them, but if you break the process of thinking into clear steps then you can help them find a solution.
Much like when you learn to play a new sport. Your coach will teach you the correct steps to follow to get to your goal and if you put all the skills together then
you score. The same can be done with learning how to think more rationally. The more you practice the more your thinking will improve.
Just remember it is not always to say that when a certain problem occurs that the
solution that worked the previous time will work again.
What we already know might already be outdated, so we can also not only rely on
previous experiences. In the workplace or a class situation it is often
required to work together in finding a solution or reaching a conclusion.
The problem usually is that different people think differently, and each have their
own opinion, so it is important to listen to everyone’s suggestions and
to learn from other people’s thoughts and expressions. Once you become more
aware of the way you have to think, then you are making some progress towards
more rational thinking.
The rational thinking process always stays the same. It is not dependent on a situation, and you can apply the process to any situation even though the situation might be a new situation that you have never dealt with before.
Once you see thinking as a process then you can start helping others to improve their ability to think!
