These mental habits were developed to teach school children how to think critically and become problems solvers. It’s a valuable skill for adults to learn as well.
When presented with any new information think about:
- Evidence: Why do you think this information is true or false? What should count? What do you think you know and why?
- Viewpoints: How would this look from other perspectives? How would other people or companies think about this differently?
- Connections: Noticing any patterns? Have you seen something like this before?
- Conjecture: What if something about this was different? How would that impact things?
- Relevance: Why does this matter?
(Source: A More Beautiful Question by Warren Berger)
These tips will help you get a deeper understanding of whatever you’re studying, be it something technical, political, social, etc.