The Art of NOT Being Taken Advantage of (The Psychology of Critical Thinking)
A very dear friend taught me this
A very dear friend taught me this
Somethings don't get covered in school, and if our parents don't tell us... Well, hopefully you have a buddy as smart as mine. If you don't, I'm going to tell you everything you need to know. Apply what I'm about to tell you to your everyday, make it habitual.
Because critical thinking is a skill that requires artful practice.
Why people prefer it when you're dumb
Because you're easy to manipulate.
The scariest realisation you can have, is that most people (and I mean the vast majority) don't have your wellbeing at heart. Everybody is selfishly motivated to a relatively large extent, including you. Of course you have people you care about, and would possibly even die for, but they are few.
Why would someone who wants something from you, give you the knowledge to prevent them from taking it?
Especially if we're talking about a person less morally inclined than most. There are some real sociopathic vampires out there, that just want to manipulate and torture you, because, well, they can, and enjoy that they can.
A lot of critical thinking is being secured enough in your own being to not be pushed around by these types.
What is critical thinking?
'The ability to withhold judgement before proper and thorough analysis of variables has been conducted.'
Everyone is able to think critically, it is an innate human ability, but people fall flat when put under-pressure. Think of the sleaziest salesman you ever met, he did a lot of pushing, didn't he. He/she didn't do this just to be annoying, they did it to block the process of critical thought.
It's the oldest persuasive trick in the book
The cars over priced, theres oil leaks, the milage is too high, and the establishment you're buy it from is unreliable. But to stop you from realising that, they are going to stop you from thinking about it (because it's only a matter of time until you do). By asserting social pressure, most people become too flustered to think properly.
How to incorporate critical thought
The above is just one example of millions.
Confusing terms and conditions, people acting like you're an idiot for taking so long to decide, not mentioning VAT wasn't included in the price until they're holding up the card machine. It's all the same in principle, prevent you from thinking critically so they can lowball you.
Here's how to stop that happening.
You need to become so unshakeable that nothing will panic you. This was key for when I was a soldier, you had to be able to think clearly, no matter how tired you were, no matter what happened. Because once people start losing their heads, bad decisions are made.
Follow this check list whenever you feel like life is rushing you away from critical thought:
Do I have breath?
Then take deeper breaths
Detach emotionally from the environment
If you still can't think clearly, is there a logical way to help you?
Writing it down always helps, talking to friend, or just getting away so you can think it through. Naturally the manipulators will accuse you of time-wasting, being stupid or whatever. Don't care, realise they're potentially trying to make a fool of you, take all the time you need.
Step 1 helps put things in prospective, stage 2 and 3 require practice, meditations helps.
People think critical thought is about intelligence, that's not what I've seen. I believe it comes down to someones self-confidence, confident people believe in themselves enough to not be pressured by their environment, keeping stress hormones down, which blocks blood flow to the pre-frontal cortex (the thinking brain). Ultimately leading to quicker thinking times, and more time in general because they don't let other's rush them.
Un-confident people will panic (high stress hormones), and will let others push them around.
You deserve all the confidence in the world, think critically.
Well said!✨