25 Days to Better Thinking & Better Living

1. Recognize the Flawed Nature of Human Thinking

To begin to take thinking seriously, you must first recognize the inherently flawed nature of human thought in its “normal” state.

Human thinking is naturally flawed. Without conscious effort, our thinking is prone to prejudice, stereotyping, hypocrisy, and self-deception. We often justify irrational behavior, seeing ourselves as right even when evidence suggests otherwise. This self-justifying tendency is innate, not learned, and makes it difficult to recognize our own irrationality.

Egocentricity blinds us. The mind naturally operates from an egocentric perspective, prioritizing its own interests and viewpoints. This makes us prone to seeing the world through a distorted lens, ignoring information that contradicts our beliefs and rationalizing our actions. Overcoming this requires actively bringing unconscious thought patterns to consciousness.

Improvement requires effort. Becoming a better thinker demands discipline, perseverance, honesty, and integrity. It involves observing, monitoring, analyzing, assessing, and reconstructing your thinking daily. This intellectual work is challenging, requiring you to face uncomfortable truths about yourself and push through mental discomfort.

2. Cultivate Intellectual Humility and Empathy

Intellectual empathy requires us to think within the viewpoints of others, especially those we think are wrong.

Value other perspectives. Good thinkers actively practice intellectual empathy, striving to understand viewpoints different from their own, especially those they initially disagree with. They recognize that others may hold truths they haven't discovered and are willing to explore new ways of seeing the world without assuming their own perspective is superior.

Know your ignorance. Intellectual humility is the disposition to distinguish between what you know and what you don't. It involves recognizing the mind's tendency to overestimate its knowledge and being aware of the limits of your understanding. Socrates exemplified this by constantly questioning and acknowledging his lack of knowledge, inviting others to join him in the search for truth.

Strategies for growth:

• Summarize others' views to ensure accurate understanding.
• Question your deeply held beliefs, especially cultural or political ones.
• Seek alternative sources of information representing different viewpoints.
• Admit when you might be wrong and be open to changing your mind based on good reasons.

3. Develop Intellectual Integrity and Fairness

Only to the extent that our beliefs and actions are consistent, only when we say what we mean and mean what we say, do we have intellectual integrity.

Beware of hypocrisy. Hypocrisy is a state of mind unconcerned with honesty, often marked by unconscious contradictions between professed beliefs and actual behavior. We tend to have higher standards for others than for ourselves and often fail to live up to our own stated values, skillfully rationalizing inconsistencies to maintain a positive self-image.

Overcome selfishness. Human thinking is naturally self-serving, prioritizing personal interests, which often leads to unfairness towards others. Developing fair-mindedness means considering the rights and needs of others as equivalent to your own and foregoing selfish desires when fairness requires it. This involves actively catching yourself in self-deception and self-serving behavior.

Practice consistency and fairness:

• Identify areas where you expect more from others than yourself.
• Compare your stated beliefs with your actions to uncover inconsistencies.
• Log selfish episodes, detailing the thinking behind them and their impact on others.
• Force yourself to consider multiple viewpoints, especially those you disagree with, representing them accurately.

4. Master Clarity and Relevance in Thought

Vague, ambiguous, muddled, deceptive, or misleading thinking are significant problems in human life.

Strive for clarity. Our own thinking often seems clear to us, even when it is vague or confusing to others. Improving thinking requires the art of clarification – pinning down ideas, spelling them out, and giving them specific meaning. This involves stating points clearly, elaborating, providing examples, and using analogies.

Stick to the point. Relevant thinking is focused on the main task or problem at hand, selecting what is pertinent and setting aside what is immaterial. Undisciplined thinking often wanders based on associations rather than logical connections. Disciplined thinking requires actively intervening to keep the mind focused on what helps solve the problem.

Improve focus and understanding:

• When speaking or writing, use structures like "I think... In other words... For example..."
• Ask clarifying questions like "Can you restate that?" or "Can you give an example?"
• When discussing a problem, explicitly state the main question and ensure all points relate back to it.
• Notice when your mind or others' minds digress and practice bringing the focus back to what is relevant.

5. Ask Deep Questions and Think Through Implications

Thinking is driven by questions. The quality of your questions determines the quality of your thinking.

Question everything. Thinking is fundamentally driven by the questions we ask. Superficial questions lead to superficial thinking, while deep, insightful questions lead to deeper understanding. Questions define the intellectual tasks required to arrive at a sufficient answer and reveal whether we passively accept information or actively seek understanding.

Consider consequences. Implications are the potential outcomes of decisions or actions, while consequences are what actually happen. Critical thinkers actively consider the likely implications of their choices before acting, allowing them to choose consequences more wisely. This applies not only to major decisions but also to the implications embedded in the language we use.

Develop questioning and foresight:

• Never answer a question you don't understand; ask for clarification.
• When facing complex problems, formulate the core question in multiple ways to find the best fit.
• Before acting, list the likely implications of different courses of action.
• Carefully observe the language you use, noting what is implied by your words and how others react.

6. Take Command of Your Emotions and Desires

If you want to be in command of your life, you have to get command of the desires that direct your behavior.

Thoughts shape feelings. Emotions are deeply intertwined with thinking; how you interpret a situation determines how you feel about it. Negative emotions often stem from irrational thinking. By identifying the thoughts underlying your emotions, you can challenge unproductive thinking with more sensible reasoning, leading to a shift in feelings.

Assess your desires. Every action is driven by some purpose or desire. To control your life, you must assess and critique your desires, differentiating between rational wants and those that are self-destructive or harmful to others. Unbridled pursuits of greed, power, or approval often lead to suffering.

Gain self-control:

• When experiencing a negative emotion, identify the underlying thinking and challenge its rationality.
• Analyze behaviors that lead to pain or are dysfunctional, questioning the desires that motivate them.
• Think through the implications of pursuing irrational desires or engaging in self-destructive behavior.
• Keep a journal to track negative emotions and dysfunctional behaviors, detailing the thoughts and situations involved.

7. Embrace Reason and Personal Responsibility

One of the hallmarks of a critical thinker is the disposition to change one’s mind when given a good reason to change.

Be moved by reason. Reasonable people are willing to change their minds when presented with better thinking or evidence. The mind is not naturally malleable but tends to be rigid, often rejecting perfectly reasonable arguments that contradict existing beliefs. Becoming reasonable requires actively opening your mind to the possibility that you might be wrong.

Take responsibility. As adults, we must take responsibility for who we are becoming, rather than blaming others, such as our parents, for past emotional scars. Dwelling on past hurts and seeing ourselves as victims leads to misery. We have the power to become the authors of our lives by taking charge of our thinking, emotions, and desires.

Cultivate reason and agency:

• Practice admitting when you are wrong and actively look for opportunities to change your thinking based on good reasons.
• Analyze situations where you are close-minded or defensive to understand the underlying thinking you are clinging to.
• If blaming parents, distinguish between fact and belief, and focus energy on what you can control in the present and future.
• Transform energy spent on negative thoughts into productive action that leads to potential success and positive emotions.

8. Resist Conformity and Think for Yourself

Assume that you are a conformist. Only when you can admit that you are a conformist can you begin to identify when and where you conform.

Question the crowd. Human life involves membership in groups (nation, culture, family, etc.), each imposing conformity through unspoken rules, beliefs, and taboos. Most people conform unreflectively, internalizing group norms without critical analysis. Blind conformity is an evil that treats arbitrary social rules as inherently right, leading to unjust practices and marginalization of those who differ.

Develop intellectual autonomy. Independent thinkers do not mindlessly follow the crowd but figure out for themselves what makes sense to believe. They recognize social rules and taboos as subjective creations and are willing to question cultural conventions, even deeply ingrained ones. Overcoming lifelong indoctrination requires committed effort and courage.

Strategies for independence:

• Identify cultural taboos, shocking behaviors, and sacred beliefs in your society.
• Notice how cultural norms are propagated through media and social interactions.
• Examine the extent to which you uncritically accept group requirements and monitor your own conformity.
• Read widely about different cultures and historical periods to see how beliefs and behaviors vary.
• Practice speaking up and stating your true thoughts, even when it goes against the group consensus.

9. Critique Media and Politics with a Global View

If you do not recognize bias in your nation’s news; if you cannot detect ideology, slant, and spin; if you cannot recognize propaganda when exposed to it, you cannot reasonably determine what media messages have to be supplemented, counterbalanced, or thrown out entirely.

See through manipulation. News media and politicians often reflect and reinforce the worldview and vested interests of their culture or those who fund them, rather than presenting objective truth or serving the public good. News is often sensationalized or biased to increase profit or manipulate public opinion. Politicians frequently prioritize getting elected and serving big money interests over acting as true statesmen concerned with public welfare.

Question nationalistic bias. Most cultures foster nationalism and ethnocentrism, teaching people to see their country or group as superior and its motives as inherently just. This pathological thinking is destructive and prevents a fair assessment of global issues. Becoming a citizen of the world requires denouncing nationalism and viewing global needs ahead of narrow national agendas.

Develop critical awareness:

• Actively critique news stories for bias, slant, ignored facts, and implicit assumptions.
• Compare what politicians say with what they do, identifying their vested interests.
• Study alternative perspectives and worldviews beyond mainstream media sources.
• Examine global problems from multiple international viewpoints, not just your nation's.
• Recognize that politicians in all countries often operate similarly, driven by self-interest and manipulation.

10. Contribute to the World and Commit to Lifelong Learning

The goal of critical thought is to improve how we think and how we act both in our personal lives and in relationship to others.

Make a difference. Critical thinking has ethical implications, driving us to improve the quality of life for ourselves and others. We have an ethical obligation to help those in need and contribute to a more just and sane world. This involves actively seeking opportunities to make a positive impact, however small, and using our influence and strengths to help others.

Educate yourself continuously. Intellectual growth is a lifelong process. It requires actively seeking knowledge, reading widely, and engaging with diverse ideas. True education goes beyond formal schooling; it is the disciplined pursuit of understanding the world and ourselves, constantly expanding our knowledge base and refining our thinking abilities.

Act and learn:

• Identify ways you can contribute to others' lives or address world problems.
• Select a group working for a better world and get involved, even if just financially.
• Use your unique strengths and talents to make a contribution.
• Read widely and critically, especially well-researched books on world problems and alternative perspectives.
• Design a plan for continued intellectual development, recognizing that learning is an ongoing journey.

Last updated: May 9, 2025