From an article posted by Lew Smallwood of Dynagroup Inc Australia.

How often do you think? Yes, I know we all think all the time. But how often do you engage in deep, disciplined, thought provoking, critical thinking. The kind of thinking that triggers deep and fundamental change? Something I read years ago has stayed with me: ‘We become too soon old and too late smart’. Critical thinking is simply the act of reflecting on our beliefs, assumptions and actions and being open to consider new ways of looking at and living in the world. Critical thinking is a productive process that enables us to be more effective and innovative in the important areas of life, and to develop wisdom.

The goal of thinking critically is simple: to guarantee, as far as possible, that our beliefs and actions can be justified and can withstand rational analysis. Just what do we do when we’re thinking critically? In general terms, thinking critically is to think clearly, accurately, knowledgeably, while evaluating the reasons for a belief you hold, an assumption you have, or an action you take.

We often believe things not because we have good evidence for them but because we want to believe them. We tend to construe things in our own favor, to look for evidence that fits with what we already believe or want to believe. Too often, we can deceive ourselves. We allow habit to control how we think about the issues and actions in our life. Often, we see only what we want to see and believe only what we want to believe. When we engage in critical thinking things change, and the two main benefits will be increased self-confidence and a heightened sense of control over our life.

Once we commit ourselves to critical thinking we will generate continual learning and improvement in life as we search for the beliefs and actions that best serve us. We need to learn how to conduct that search properly, so that our self-confidence and self-respect flourish and grow. Also, the better we become at evaluating our thinking, the more likely it is that we will be in control of situations where decisions need to be made or problems solved. Continual learning is essential to lifetime growth. It’s possible to have a great deal of experience in life and yet be no smarter for all the things you’ve done, seen, and heard. Experience alone is no guarantee of lifetime growth. But if you regularly examine and transform your experience into new learning, you will make each day of your life one of growth.

The smartest people are not those with a high IQ, but those who can transform even the smallest events or situations into breakthroughs in thinking and action. We should look at all of life as a school and every experience as a lesson, and then our learning will always be greater than our experience. You are the thinker of your thoughts, you are not just your thoughts, and when you react to some action or incident and find yourself responding… take a ‘mental’ step back and ask yourself

Why did I think that thought?

Was it an automatic response triggered by a program running in my mind?

Did it serve me?

What else could I have chosen to think?

When you apply critical thinking instead of simply accepting your thoughts and letting them run across the screen of your mind, you access deep learning and powerful change. This has the potential to impact and improve your life. So what are you thinking right now as a result of reading this? And why are you thinking that thought?