Critical Thinking about Critical Thinking
Over the last several weeks I have tried to examine the way I reason and think through things. Having learned about the Elements and Standards of Reasoning it is amazing how much I have changed the way I think through problems, issues and daily dilemmas that I run in to. I think many times in life we go through these processes of reasoning without even realizing it. However we may skip over some of these or not spend enough time on certain ones before we move on to the next. We may have an issue but not have a good understanding of what the actual problem is or think that our goal is one thing when it should actually be another. These elements have enabled me to slow down my thought process and focus on certain aspects that I may feel I don't fully understand yet. Whether this is spending more time examining the implications or consequences, the data and facts or even coming to a better understanding of the actual concept. I focus a great deal more on these processes then I did before I started this course. Sometimes this means spending more time thinking about the possible solutions. When going through the Elements its important to not forget the standards. This may mean I needing to clarify the problem all the way or question the significance, it is important to include these while reasoning out a situation. Since reading about these I have actually printed them off and posted them at work. When listening to problems or trying to figure out a solution to something it has helped me a great deal to keep this in mind and has afforded me to be much more thorough when working on solutions.
The goal I have is to incorporate this into my daily life. While it doesn't seem like it will be that difficult to remembers these things, especially when they are posted on my wall at work, it is, however, difficult to force myself to be thorough. This is especially the case when I am attempting to multitask and am distracted by fifteen different things. When attempting to combine school, family life, work, church and other duties, focusing on these seemingly small problems can feel like a daunting task. Often times these are problems brought to me by people that I have been appointed a leader over and I sometimes forget completely about the issue. It is up to me to not allow that to happen and remember that I was put there for a reason and that I need to remember that the situations that I often forget about are very important to those around me. I need to take them as seriously as if I were the other person. I have attempted to help myself do this by keeping notes and tasks written down in a notepad. This helps me to remember the things that my mind would otherwise have wiped away to make room for all the other things that I need to keep in my throughout the day. I have especially learned that there is often more than one way to "skin a cat" or solve problems. Understanding this and not settling on the first idea that comes to mind has increased the amount of time I spend on a problem. If I am working with others this standard is helpful because I quickly learn that my ideas are not always the most effective and others have different insight that can bring other solutions to the table. This requires a level of creativity that I do not naturally excel at and am happy to be learning and practicing it in my daily life now.
I feel that I can incorporate both the Elements and Standards of Reasoning into my daily life and in turn improve my critical thinking abilities. The hard part is how much they will permeate my day to day life. In the end this just means that I need to put a good amount of effort into this until it becomes more like a second nature rather than a daunting task. Hopefully by doing this my decisions will be more informed and have better outcomes thereby increasing my desire to keep up the processes. Keeping this things visually around me so I can see and remember both the Elements and Standards of reasoning and continue to remember that there is "more than one way to skin a cat" helps me to be more creative and to ask others for advice and their points of view.
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