A high reasoning ability can be useful at work, at school and in interpersonal relationships. There are various ways to improve it: for example, you can engage in activities that stimulate critical thinking, try to change your mental patterns and learn to identify irrational thoughts.
Steps
Part 1 of 3: Engage in Activities That Foster Critical Thinking
Step 1. Never stop trying your hand at new things
A great way to improve your reasoning skills is to keep challenging yourself. The mind behaves like any other muscle: it needs exercise and stimulation. So, always go in search of new passions and activities.
- Choose very different activities. If you're already into the outdoors, consider learning how to crochet instead of hiking. If you are a DIY and DIY expert, try solving some crosswords or puzzles in your spare time.
- Sign up for a class if possible. By taking a poetry or pottery class at a cultural association, you have the opportunity to test your brain in a fun way and encourage yourself to try new things.
Step 2. Train
Exercise positively affects memory and thinking. Many studies indicate that the areas of the brain responsible for reasoning and deduction are much more efficient in people who train regularly. In addition, physical activity reduces anxiety and stress and improves mood, facilitating concentration and learning. Try to get some exercise into your daily routine and practice it regularly. This way, you can enhance your ability to think critically. While researchers are still unsure whether a certain form of exercise is better than others, some studies indicate that aerobic activity is the one that stimulates the brain the most.
Step 3. Keep a journal
Updating a diary on a daily basis can actually help improve the ability to critically analyze reality. In addition to helping you rework your days, it encourages reflection and thought.
- Writing requires active effort. It forces you to delve into and examine your thoughts. By keeping a detailed diary on the progress of your days, on the feelings you feel and on everything you think during the day, you will be able to look inside yourself with greater awareness and, consequently, to improve your ability to reason.
- Take the time to update your diary daily. Set a time of day to write so that it becomes a habit like brushing your teeth, showering, or dining. In order not to forget this exercise, you could insert it after a fixed commitment.
Step 4. Read novels
Reading is usually a great exercise to improve analysis and reasoning. Above all, fiction books can allow you to become familiar with uncertainty and ambiguity, leading you to think more articulated and enhance your creativity.
- Thanks to the reflection on the characters, the narrative stimulates you to analyze other points of view with greater insight. This way, you will have less difficulty getting in tune with the culture, beliefs and passions of those around you. You may be able to reason better with those around you, but also improve your empathic skills.
- Furthermore, by reading works of fiction you will train yourself not to interpret reality in a simplistic way, not to see everything "black or white". In the long run you will be able to develop more complex mental patterns, as you will be able to grasp and accept the ambiguity of various situations.
Step 5. Play games that encourage reasoning
There are several games that require you to think, such as board games, strategy (like chess) and words.
- Look for a rather complex board game. Consider strategy games where decision making is an indispensable element. Organize games with friends, trying to propose games that require reflection and attention. Cluedo and Risiko activate critical thinking. Scarabeo and Il Paroliere teach you to quickly analyze information.
- Chess and checkers also require some reasoning. Consider joining or starting a chess club.
- Also, don't neglect the games you can play on your own. You could be playing cards online. Alternatively, buy a Rubik's cube and try to solve it.
Step 6. Get creative
Setting yourself the goal of accomplishing something can improve the ability to reason. You don't necessarily have to have great creative skills, but by forcing your mind to try new things, you will learn to nurture and refine your thinking. Try playing a musical instrument. Start drawing. Write a poem or a short song.
Part 2 of 3: Changing Mind Patterns
Step 1. Pay attention to the intentions that drive your actions
When making a decision, take into account the purposes behind it. Since daily life is full of needs to be met immediately, we happen to lose sight of the goals and objectives that motivate our behaviors. Therefore, try to be careful of the intentions that guide your daily actions.
- Focus on your most important work or school goals. Where would you like to be in five years? In two years? What about next year? How are you moving to achieve this? What sense does what you do have in relation to the most important goals you have set for yourself? By answering these questions, you may be predisposed to hone your thinking.
- Try to see if your way of acting is actually useful for your purposes. Often, people get stuck in the idea of having to accomplish something in a certain way or follow a particular path, and in the meantime their efforts lose their meaning. To avoid this risk, try to keep the end results in mind when taking a certain action.
Step 2. Identify your prejudices
Everyone has their own, whether they are aware of them or not. If you want to improve your reasoning skills, try to identify yours.
- A common misconception is to consider a situation or problem from a single point of view. When a problem arises at work, at school or at home, stop and question yourself before taking action. Ask yourself, "How do I see this situation? Why? What prejudices might I have about the thoughts and ideas of others?"
- It is important to learn to become aware of one's own prejudices so that they do not hinder the capacity for discernment. Therefore, try asking a close friend what your reasoning is lacking in. For example, you might ask him, "On what occasions do I behave irrationally?" Ask him to be honest and direct.
Step 3. Consider the implications of your choices
Every decision has consequences. A great way to improve your ability to reason is to stop and become aware of the effects of your choices.
- Use your imagination. Before making a choice, stop and imagine a number of possible outcomes. What do you think about a given situation? What is the worst possible scenario? And the best one? What could possibly happen? Because?
- Also, don't forget to consider the perspectives of the people your decision might affect. In this way, you will be able to evaluate it in various aspects.
Part 3 of 3: Recognizing Irrational Thoughts
Step 1. Be careful not to over-generalize
Many people make a bundle of all the weed without realizing it. This attitude undermines rational thinking. Try to pay attention to any hyper-generalizations you may make in daily life.
- Hyper-generalizations lead you to consider a particular phenomenon as proof that the situation has always been or always will be a certain way. For example, if you fail an exam, you might think, "I'm an idiot and they'll still beat me." Probably, in formulating this sentence, you are leaving out the successes obtained in the past in the light of a single negative episode.
- Dichotomous thoughts (i.e., all or nothing) constitute a form of generalization in which things appear all white or all black. Reality is separated into two categories: good or bad, success or failure, and so on. This way of thinking involves the lack of middle ground in the face of situations. For example, if your job performance doesn't get clear approval, you might see it as a failure. In fact, it is very likely that you are competent in your field, but you should improve in some respects.
- Downplaying the positive is a cognitive distortion that causes you to focus too much on the negative aspects of a situation. If 20 good things happen to you in a day followed by a negative one, you are led to focus completely on the latter. For example, suppose that during a musical performance you make only one mistake, without which it would be perfect. You will surely be tempted to call it a disaster. In fact, maybe you are the only person who has noticed this single mistake.
Step 2. Don't make assumptions
People speculate in all sorts of situations, fueling irrational thoughts. Learn to notice when you take this attitude.
- Sometimes, people believe they can read other people's minds, assuming they know what they think about them or a certain situation. In fact, it is impossible to know what another person is thinking without asking them. For example, you might torment yourself by saying to yourself, "I bet everyone considered me an idiot in the meeting" or "I bet the colleague thinks I was ranting." If you find yourself harboring these kinds of thoughts, try to remember that you are probably not as capable of reading other people's minds as you think.
- Another negative mindset is to be convinced what will happen in the future. It can turn into a defeatist attitude. For example: "I'll never be able to diet and lose weight" or "I know I'll look like an idiot in tomorrow's relationship." Keep in mind that, in reality, you cannot know what will happen tomorrow or in the next few weeks.
Step 3. Avoid catastrophism
When you are nervous or stressed, it can happen that you see reality in a catastrophic way. For example, you might think that you are going to be broke if you have to pay for car repairs for a month. If you get rejection from someone you like, you may feel like you don't deserve anyone's love. In these cases, remember that a failure or a small misfortune does not indicate what will happen in the future.
Step 4. Pay attention to how you interpret situations
Often, people evaluate reality irrationally, without realizing it. Observe the way you think and perceive the events of daily life.
- The tendency to catalog leads you to define the circumstances within rigid limits. For example: "This person made a mistake" or "I made a bad choice". It is an attitude that leads you to be inflexible with people and situations starting from isolated facts. Try not to classify everything and not give in to the temptation to judge.
- Personalization is the tendency to take the situations and reactions of others personally. For example, you might assume that a co-worker is nervous because your small talk is bothering him when, in reality, he is just very busy. Try not to interpret situations personally.
- We often remain anchored to absurd ideas. For example, you might consider that a person's successes highlight your shortcomings. Don't forget that everyone is different and moves at their own pace.
Advice
- To improve your ability to reason, learn to open your mind as if it were a habit.
- Learn about logical fallacies in order to avoid them, such as the puppet argument or the fallacy of bad china.
