3 Ideas in 2 Minutes on Better Thinking Skills

What Is Thinking?, 5 Habits of the Master Thinker & Overthinking

Chess Board, Beijing, China

I. What Is Thinking?

Intelligence analyst and author David T. Moore on what it means to think:

Thinking – or reasoning – involves objectively connecting present beliefs with evidence in order to believe something else.

—David T. Moore, Critical Thinking and Intelligence Analysis

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II. 5 Habits of the Master Thinker

CEO and former intelligence analyst Randy Pherson on habits you can cultivate in case you don’t have enough time to think deeply.

A good analytic thinker who has mastered the core structured analytic techniques
will instinctively:

1. Know when to challenge key assumptions—usually far more often than you think!

2. Consider alternative explanations or hypotheses for all events—including the null hypothesis and the deception hypothesis when applicable.

3. Look for inconsistent data that provides sufficient justification to quickly discard a candidate hypothesis.

4. Focus on the key drivers that best explain what has occurred or what is about to happen.

5. Anticipate the customers’ needs and understand the overarching context within which the analysis is being done.

—Randolph H. Pherson, The Five Habits of the Master Thinker

You can find Randy’s book on structured analytic techniques on my Reading List.

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III. Overthinking

British writer and philosopher Alan Watts on overthinking as a reason to meditate:

Most of us think compulsively all the time. That is to say we talk to ourselves. And I remember when I was a boy we had a common saying: ‘Talking to yourself is the first sign of madness.’

Now obviously, if I talk all the time I don’t hear what anyone else has to say. And so in exactly the same way, if I think all the time, that is to say I talk to myself all the time, I don’t have anything to think about except thoughts.

And therefore I’m living entirely in the world of symbols and I’m never in relationship with reality.

—Alan Watts

🐘

Have a great week,

Chris
themindcollection.com