July 21, 2020 marked Part 11 of Dr. Jim White’s Critical Thinking webinar series. Dr. White took a moment to thank his subscribers, many of whom have been following along for the past ten weeks, and to remind viewers that next week he will be wrapping up the Critical Thinking series.
Last week, Dr. White covered four main points: retaining new skills, reflecting and learning from new mistakes, understanding the critical thinking process better, and asking rich questions. White recommended developing a schema for organizing new information and practicing critical thinking skills regularly when it comes to retaining new skills. He also recommended reflecting on your day and learning from new mistakes as a part of your daily routine. To engage in critical thinking, White emphasized that the more you practice, the easier the process will come automatically. Dr. White also provided guidance for asking rich questions and noted that the importance of being inquisitive cannot be emphasized enough during the critical thinking process.
This week, Dr. White thanked his viewers for participating in last week’s virtual meeting room and reminded viewers that they had homework from last week. White encouraged his viewership to utilize critical thinking skills to make an action plan. The action plan could concern anything – career, health, family, or personal finances.
Dr. White took a moment to highlight some of his favorite quotes when it comes to critical thinking:
Good questioners are good thinkers.
All perceiving is also thinking, all reasoning is also intuition, all observation is also invention.
All words are pegs to hang ideas on.
White noted that words are powerful, and tying the right words together is a necessary skill when asking questions.
Dr White’s fifth book, The Next Big Thing in Politics, will be released around Labor Day, just in time for our critical election season.
Dr. White continued, creating a bullet point review of lessons learned:
- Critical thinking has many components that open minds to basic learning
- Nonlinear thinking helps critical thinkers to step out of their comfort zone and become adaptable
- Critical thinking is a systematic process that helps up draw conclusions
- Critical thinkers require many characteristics to be effective, including: curiosity, being humble, being disciplined, being objective, self-awareness, and active listening
- Critical thinkers use SWOT analysis to evaluate information
- Problem solving skills
- Increasing emotional intelligence
- Critical thinking may require an individual to change their perspective to assess new information
- Critical thinkers identify inconsistencies, ask questions, become good thinkers, trust their instincts, and take time to evaluate possible solutions
- Critical thinking is a lifelong process
- Practice, practice, practice
- Critical thinkers should continue to ask questions and learn from mistakes
- Critical thinking is logical
As Tuesday’s webinar came to a close, Jim asked his viewers to continue working on their action plans and reminded them that the plans could relate to their careers, family, personal finances, spiritual journeys, or any other journey that requires a plan. White emphasized that he has high expectations for his staff, and himself – and he doesn’t want his viewers to settle when it comes to critical thinking and their action plans. White reminded his audience that they can send their questions in through the website, and he will hold a Q&A next week, during the next episode of Critical Thinking.
