Critical Thinking - Use Independent Thinking To Build A Powerful Life
Summary
TLDRIn this self-help segment, Leo from Actualised.org emphasizes the importance of critical thinking as a vital skill for problem-solving and personal growth. He explains that critical thinking involves independent analysis and not just accepting information at face value. Drawing examples from historical figures like Einstein and Socrates, Leo encourages viewers to question everything, think deeply, and derive their own truths to avoid being misled by society's mainstream narratives. He concludes by advocating for curiosity and open-mindedness as key to developing this skill.
Takeaways
- π§ Critical thinking is essential for solving problems and overcoming obstacles in life.
- π‘ Developing critical thinking skills allows for independent analysis and problem-solving.
- π Personal success and achievements are often linked to the ability to think critically about challenges.
- π΅οΈββοΈ Critical thinking involves being an independent thinker, not just accepting information at face value.
- π Historical figures like Descartes, Newton, and Einstein exemplify the importance of deep, independent thought.
- π Critical thinking is about deriving your own understanding and not just applying received knowledge.
- π€ The process of critical thinking involves asking questions, analyzing, and reflecting on information.
- π It's important to be skeptical and not blindly accept information from media, books, or authority figures.
- π Critical thinking leads to self-direction and self-reliance, as opposed to relying on external influences.
- π The analogy of a herd of cattle illustrates the dangers of not thinking critically and blindly following the crowd.
- π± Cultivating curiosity and open-mindedness are key factors in developing strong critical thinking abilities.
Q & A
What is the main topic of the video script?
-The main topic of the video script is the importance of critical thinking and how to develop it.
Why is critical thinking considered a critical skill according to the script?
-Critical thinking is considered a critical skill because it allows individuals to solve problems, overcome obstacles, and take their life to the next level.
What does the speaker suggest is the key takeaway regarding critical thinking?
-The key takeaway is that critical thinking is about independent thinking, where one figures out problems and generates answers for themselves rather than accepting information at face value.
Who are some of the historical figures mentioned as great critical thinkers?
-Some of the historical figures mentioned include Rene Descartes, David Hume, Isaac Newton, Plato, Socrates, Aristotle, the Buddha, Albert Einstein, Pablo Picasso, and Leonardo da Vinci.
What is the analogy used by the speaker to describe the dangers of not thinking critically?
-The speaker uses the analogy of a herd of cattle running towards a canyon, where those who do not think critically will blindly follow and fall off the cliff, symbolizing a life led without independent thought.
What is the speaker's view on the role of critical thinking in one's personal development?
-The speaker believes that critical thinking is essential for personal development as it fosters self-direction and self-reliance, enabling individuals to chart their own path in life.
What are the two factors identified for developing critical thinking skills?
-The two factors identified for developing critical thinking skills are curiosity and open-mindedness.
How does the speaker define independent thinking in the context of critical thinking?
-Independent thinking in the context of critical thinking is defined as the ability to derive truths and generate answers for oneself, rather than relying on external sources.
What is the speaker's advice on how to start practicing critical thinking?
-The speaker advises to start asking questions, to be skeptical, and to analyze information critically, valuing one's own opinions above those of others.
What is the purpose of the speaker's content and why should one consider subscribing to Actualised.org?
-The purpose of the speaker's content is to share deep, well-researched ideas that can help develop critical thinking skills. Subscribing to Actualised.org provides updates and more content that encourages independent and critical thinking.
Outlines
π€ The Essence of Critical Thinking
Leo from Actualised.org introduces the concept of critical thinking as an essential life skill. He emphasizes its importance for problem-solving and personal growth, explaining that it involves analyzing and understanding issues deeply rather than passively accepting information. He shares his personal journey and success, attributing it to his ability to think critically and independently. The paragraph also highlights historical figures known for their critical thinking, such as Rene Descartes and Albert Einstein, to illustrate the impact of independent thought.
π The Value of Independent Thinking
This paragraph delves into the value of deriving truths independently rather than accepting them from others. Leo uses the analogy of learning geometry to explain how understanding concepts deeply leads to true mastery. He contrasts this with the passive consumption of information prevalent in society today, which he criticizes for its lack of critical engagement. The Socratic method is introduced as an example of questioning to arrive at the truth, and Leo encourages viewers to start practicing critical thinking by questioning everything they read or hear.
π Breaking Free from the Herd Mentality
Leo warns against the dangers of conforming to societal norms and information without critical evaluation. He likens society to a herd of cattle blindly running towards a cliff, symbolizing the potential for a disastrous outcome if one does not think independently. He advises viewers to question all sources of information, including media, culture, and even his own advice, and to rely on their own judgment to avoid falling into the trap of following false or misleading ideas.
π Cultivating Curiosity and Open-Mindedness
In the final paragraph, Leo outlines the practical steps for developing critical thinking skills. He stresses the importance of curiosity and open-mindedness, suggesting that these traits will drive one's journey towards becoming a critical thinker. He encourages skepticism and self-reliance, urging viewers to derive their own truths and values. Leo concludes by inviting viewers to subscribe to Actualised.org for more content that promotes critical thinking and independent thought.
Mindmap
Keywords
π‘Critical Thinking
π‘Problem Solving
π‘Independent Thinking
π‘Information Overload
π‘Socratic Method
π‘Mastery
π‘Self-Reliance
π‘Curiosity
π‘Open-Mindedness
π‘Herd Mentality
π‘Commercial Interests
Highlights
Critical thinking is defined as a vital skill for solving life's problems and overcoming obstacles.
The importance of developing critical thinking to identify and analyze problems before working on them.
Critical thinking as a lifelong tool for personal growth and challenge resolution.
The speaker's personal journey and the inherent value of critical thinking in achieving success.
The essence of critical thinking as independent thinking, generating one's own answers.
Historical examples of great critical thinkers like Descartes, Newton, and Einstein.
The analogy between critical thinking and deriving theorems in geometry for true understanding.
The societal tendency to absorb information without critical analysis.
The Socratic method as an example of critical thinking through questioning.
The necessity of skepticism and analytical thinking to avoid being misled by information.
The dangers of relying on others for information without independent verification.
The herd mentality analogy and the importance of breaking away for self-direction.
The role of curiosity and open-mindedness in developing critical thinking skills.
Practical steps to implement critical thinking in daily life by questioning and analyzing information.
The impact of critical thinking on creating a self-reliant and self-directed life.
The call to action for viewers to apply critical thinking to the content of the video itself.
Invitation to subscribe to Actualised.org for more content on critical thinking and personal development.
Transcripts
hey this is Leo for actualised org and
in this quick self-help segment I'm
going to talk about critical thinking
all right critical thinking so let's
crack into this one let's crack with
this one wide open critical thinking is
a critical skill to have and we're going
to talk about why it's important we're
also going to talk about how to develop
it and we're going to go deep on this
one I'm going to give you some wisdom
not just tips but wisdom about why this
is something that you should be caring
about so ultimately what is what is
behind critical thinking let's define it
and let's talk about why you want to
develop it well the reason that you want
to develop critical thinking is because
it will allow you to solve many of the
problems in your life that you have the
problems in the bottlenecks and the
obstacles that are holding you back
those will keep holding you back until
you start to think about them and
analyze them and then work on them and
you can't work on a problem until you've
identified it become aware of it and a
lot of times you can't become aware of a
problem until you've really thought
about it critically so this is a tool
that you will use throughout the rest of
your life to solve all your problems and
all your challenges and to take your
life to the next level and the next
level in the next level personally for
me critical thinking has always been
something that I valued just inherently
and something that I was good at so this
came natural to me and when I look back
at my life where I've come to now where
I am now the position I'm at now all the
success that I've had all the things
that I've done for myself all the
changes that I've made there's no way in
hell it just baffles me there's no way
in hell that that could have happened
without thinking about those problems
really analyzing them working my way
through them independently right I did
that independently sure I got a lot of
valuable information from other people
from other sources from books from
television from media
from other gurus and whatnot but in the
end I had to take that on I took on the
burden of thinking through the problems
myself and that is what's really the
core of critical thinking let's really
think about critical thinking let's use
four to go thinking to think about
critical thinking which will show you
what critical thinking actually is so
who are some great critical thinkers in
history let's take a look at a couple of
them
how about Rene Descartes how about David
Hume Isaac Newton Plato Socrates
Aristotle the Buddha Albert Einstein
Pablo Picasso Leonardo da Vinci just a
short list we can make this list
literally thousands of names long but
just a short sampling of some great
thinkers when you look at these people
and you study them or you study their
work or you even read just some little
short blurb about them on Wikipedia what
you learn is that these were deep
thinkers and these were independent
thinkers and this is the key that I want
you to take away from this video is that
critical thinking is independent
thinking that means that you are
figuring out the problem for yourself
you're generating the answers for
yourself you're not just taking whatever
is given to you it's very easy
especially now with the internet and all
this information overload that we have
all this knowledge we've accumulated
over the last 2 and 1/2 thousand years
of human history really since the since
the Greek times is it's what is we've
got all this wisdom we've got all this
knowledge we've got all this facts and
information and trivia and and all this
and it's just out there and we tend to
just go and appropriate we just
appropriate assimilate and
dudududududududu it's like we're just
grabbing stuff we're grabbing stuff but
we're not critically thinking about
we're not analyzing it what tends to
happen there is that you get caught up
in the values and the beliefs of whoever
you're taking that information from
instead of yourself you're not
generating the answer yourself the best
example I can give you here
and I hesitate to give it but I'll give
it to you because look it's important
remember in geometry class where you
were given a theorem about let's say
triangles or parallel lines or the way
angles work you were given some theorem
and you you could use that theorem to
generate answers to various problems but
then you were also asked later in the
class to then not just use the theorem
but then to actually prove it to derive
it do you remember that yeah and I mean
I hated doing that but the point there
is that there's something important
about being able to derive a truth for
yourself versus just taking it from
culture Society or somebody else when
you do that even though it can be
painful challenging and it's much easier
to just take a theorem and just apply it
without thinking critically about it
when you do that you get true
understanding you get true perspective
you get real mastery if you actually
went through and did those proofs in
geometry class then you actually
developed a deep understanding of why
geometry works the way it does if you
just took the theorems that were handed
to you and you never did the proofs you
slacked off on that part and then you
just apply the theorems then chances are
that even to this day you don't really
have a solid understanding of some of
the laws of geometry
you don't understand for example why
certain angles add up to certain certain
amounts you understand why triangles are
the way they are and circles are the way
they are and squares and other things
are the way they are you don't
understand that because you have it
thought through the process this is
something that's very undervalued
nowadays in society it used to be very
highly regarded in the Classical eras
like the Greek times the Roman times
right just think about the Socratic
method what did Socrates do what was his
philosophical style it was interesting
because the Socratic method all it is is
just asking questions the way that
Socrates would educate his students
students of philosophy the way he would
do with philosophy himself is he would
ask you questions so
you might come in there and say well I
believe such-and-such and you would say
okay you believe that well if that's
true
then that must also imply this and then
you would say no it doesn't apply that
then you said okay well then what you
said must be false or maybe you agree
yes it does imply that but it doesn't
apply it in the way that you thought and
so now it implies something slightly
different and then that thing implies
something slightly different in
something else and something else and so
you have this chain of implications from
that original assumption or that
original belief and through this process
you can go down this chain of reasoning
by asking question after question after
question posing hypothetical scenarios
and you can really get pretty deep into
the truth of the matter and start to
really see what is making this idea tick
so what you got to be doing with your
life
is you got to be doing that and if
you're curious about how do I actually
build critical thinking skills how to
actually do that well you have to you
have to just start doing it you have to
start asking yourself questions instead
of taking facts and information from the
media and from books just accepting this
true start analyzing it thinking it one
example of this is when you're reading a
book if you're reading a nonfiction book
I think one of the signs that you're a
critical reader is that as you're
reading it you put it down a lot of
times you can't just read a deep
non-fiction book cover-to-cover
and not stop for me when I'm reading I
read the book I read a couple of pages
then I have to stop and think about what
I read and I have to ask myself
questions is that true does it really
work like that
if it is true one of the implications
for my life what are the implications
for all the other information that I've
gathered right see I start to ask myself
those questions sometimes I'll read just
two pages and then I'll go off on a
tangent in my mind thinking going down
this chain of critical thinking that
I've got going and I'll spend 15 minutes
thinking about it and then I'll I'll
realize that I was caught in that chain
I'll be like okay let's get back to the
book finally I get back to the book
because I want to finish the book too so
a little bit of a trade-off there but
basically you go through and you read a
couple of pages than you think about it
you don't just
read the book cover-to-cover and then
throw it away and then go on to the next
one
that's just you sucking in information
and then who knows what effect that's
going to have on you see the problem
right now in society is that we have a
lot of people throwing information at
you and a lot of that information is is
motivated by commercial interests
commercial purposes there are literally
billion dollar marketing departments
across the country across the world that
are looking at how to trap you into
buying their product they might
not even think the product is good it'll
still figure out a way to trap you into
it they'll figure out a way to make you
believe whatever is convenient for them
whatever produces the most money for
them and that's a very powerful
dangerous force and you have to be able
to unplug yourself from that when you
start to think critically you start to
think independently for yourself
powerful things start to happen this is
why particularly is so critical when you
have that ability then what you're going
to create for yourself is a son a sense
of self direction and self reliance
because right now if you're not a
critical thinker then you do not have
your own direction in life you do not
have a sense of reliance on yourself
you're relying on the media on culture
on your friends on people around you on
your college professors on whatever to
get you the information that you need
and what they're doing is they're
providing you quite frankly with
horseshit garbage negative information
that is flat-out false highly distorted
or leading you down the path that you do
not want to be going down when you
unplug yourself from that it's crazy I
think the best analogy I can give is
it's almost like there's a herd of
cattle and they're all running they're
all running like in a stampede towards a
canyon far off in the distance this just
giant herd of cattle all walking or
running even towards this canyon and
you're part of that herd and you don't
even realize that what's going to happen
is that a little soon enough the canyons
not that close right now but soon enough
that canyons going to come and when that
whole her
gets there they're gonna fall off the
cliff and you're going to come
along for the ride that's that's what
society basically is that's what
mainstream society is is that and
everyone who's who's plugged into that
is going to fall off the cliff
it's that dead serious this what's
happening with your health it's what's
happening with the entertainment that
you're watching so what's happening with
your lack of exercise this what's
happening with the crappy career that
you're in this is what's happening with
how you understand relationships and sex
and religion and morality all this stuff
has just been handed to you and you just
take it you just accept it you don't
think about it whatsoever you don't
discover the truths for yourself when
you start to discover these truths for
yourself and think very critically
independently rely on yourself as the
primary source and leave all the other
sources as secondary sources when you
are the primary source you're going to
realize that a lot of the ideas out
there are just flat-out wrong for you
are not going to work are extremely
unhealthy flat-out false greatly
distorted and what you're going to do is
you're going to be that one cow that
sees what's happening in a step and
you're going to stop and you're going to
go in the opposite direction you're
going to say damn I'm so glad that I
broke out of that herd because if I kept
going down that path I would have surely
fallen off the cliff and all
those cows that are going down that
direction they're going to have a
miserable and horrible life but me
because I've got my own sense of
direction I'm going to go and I'm going
to chart my own path through life and my
path is going to be an independent path
a critical path the path that can have
strength and value and that can generate
something new for Humanity that can
create powerful ideas can start powerful
projects can help people in powerful
ways and can can deeply deeply fulfill
me so this is the bottom line of why
critical thinking and important and how
it should be working so practically how
do we actually implement this well I'm
telling you stop getting information
mindlessly from the environment so that
means stop
books stop internet stop television stop
magazines stop getting your information
for people and family and religion and
from history and philosophy and just
from gurus out there including myself
and professors and teachers stop relying
on those people to just force-feed you
golden nuggets you can use all that as a
way to prime the pump but then you got
to do the work you got to put that stuff
into your mill look at your mind is it's
like a a mill that's going to grind
through this material that you're
putting into it so you put the material
in then you actually have to do the
grinding that's not what you've been
doing so far to actually do that you
have to start asking questions ask
questions about your religion don't be
afraid
ask questions about history question it
be skeptical be a total skeptic be a
cynic at least for a while go through
that phase be very skeptical be very
critical be very analytical about what
people are telling you people's opinions
and value your own opinions above the
opinions of others and actually try to
derive this stuff derive it derive the
truths ask yourself what is true what is
real what is valuable to me what is
important in life answer those yourself
don't just get that from your parents
don't just get that from your church
don't get that from a book don't even
get that from me everything I'm telling
you should be analyzing very very
critically and seeing what works what's
true and what's not
so it's true for me and what I believe
to be true is not necessarily what's
true it's not necessarily what's going
to work for you you have to figure that
out think don't be lazy think all right
the two factors for critical thinking
are what are they curiosity and
open-mindedness if you're curious and
you're fascinated by ideas and
understanding things that's going to
help you a long way it's gonna that's
going to move you a long way forward
along this track to becoming a good
critical thinker and if you're open
minded to ideas it's going to be so so
important to to make it down this path
as well because if you're closed-minded
then you're basically you're not
going to be able to analyze ideas
properly and really find the truth
because your blinders are on and you're
looking as one direction for truth but
truth might be over here except you're
looking always over here because people
told you to always be looking over here
so you will never find what's really
true being open-minded means that you're
willing to do this you're willing to go
and look into every direction every nook
and cranny doesn't matter who tells you
what and if someone tells you not to
look somewhere that's probably someplace
that you should actually go and look
right because why would they tell you
not to look there probably because
they're afraid of what you're going to
find out so look in every nook and
cranny that's what you got to do be
curious and be open-minded all right so
that's what I have to say about critical
thinking be an independent thinker be a
critical thinker the more you do this
the more you practice it the more is
just going to build and snowball and
snowball and snowball and soon enough
you're going to realize that you are an
amazing critical thinker independent
thinker and your life is going to take
that trajectory you're going to break
off from that that herd that's going
down the cliff and you're going to walk
in a positive new direction all right so
this is it for critical thinking I am
signing off go ahead post me some
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sharing with you guys is coming from my
own critical thinking and of course I'm
getting a lot of information but I'm
using my own critical thinking I'm
sharing it with you and it shows you
when you watch me think critically it
shows you how to think critically so if
you want to develop critical thinking
listen to what I'm telling you because
I'm sharing very rich deep ideas that
you do not get in most other media
sources out there so these are extremely
rich nuanced deep ideas that have been
very well researched that are extremely
powerful and doesn't mean that you
should just swallow them whole but it
means that you can use this as fodder
for your mill and it's a higher quality
fodder I'm giving you higher quality
fodder and you actually practice along
and you can see how I do it too because
I share
it's with you here and there about how I
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