How analytical and rational is my thinking? Only one way to find out: get tested!
I discovered clear thinking site entirely by mistake, and I was shocked by the quality of personality traits testing. Within very few very accurate questions, computer is able to pinpoint strengths and weaknesses of your thinking. The site loads fairly slow, but once everything loads the test is lots of fun. Once you discover your personal strengths and weaknesses, try to train the skills advised as well as run further tests from the main page. Make sure to invest time, since these tests are challenging.
I’m eager to try it, Lev. Though I’m tempted to hold off comment until after I’ve attempted their test, I want to jot a thought here, to keep a question that might diffuse or dilute too far to recall after dancing to their tempo, the question being, “Does the best problem solving necessarily always come from rational analysis?”
Surely, a rational thought process is indispensable. But quite often, some of my favorite answers seem to come from tangents or activities which seem to have no relation to any primary task I’m giving the bulk of my attention to. In the middle of a shower, or some recreative activity, I get vital “supra-rational”, “creative” answers to a project I’m working on. Not “warp”, not “woof” — but something “diagonal” to the other thought processes that seem to be running through my thoughts on a particular problem.
These also seem to be an iterative process, rather than any one “aha” / eureka moment. Usually, though, they follow early hunches re. a method of problem solving, where I get a whiff that something is worth pursuing in a train of investigation, but can’t follow the bread crumbs completely as other thoughts must be worked through, first.
So, where do these thoughts fit into this model? The ones that whisper, then bloom days, even years, later into extra-rational “out of the box” answers, seemingly bubbling up of their own accord?
When is unadulterated logical analytical analysis the “go to” tool, and when is it a rope we simply can’t push? Or, more poetically, can the “heart” really know reasons that “reason”knows not? I prefer to use all available tools, yet recognize we are vulnerable to their inherent weaknesses, as well — usually a fault not taking stock of our own state of mind at the outset of any active thinking process.
Lastly, thanks for your many insightful posts and links. Although my academic load leaves me little time to go as far into your material as I hope yet to do, I always look forward to your posts.
Best,
Robert Ford
This post is not about problem-solving skills.
When we speedread it is hard to fine-tune our filters. Some people are biased against learning new things (confirmation bias), others are susceptible to irrational arguments (indoctrination). Learn your biases, and try to offset them in your life.