Critical Thinking — How to critically think.

"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it"

— Aristotle

Critical thinking allows us to create an outcome when there is no obvious action. We want to accomplish something but don’t know how, so before we can act, we must think.

By definition, critical thinking is rational. It’s deductive and analytical. It requires us to examine and objectively analyze evidence to form a judgment and decide on a course of action.

Here’s a simple critical thinking routine that you can apply to almost any situation. Four simple steps that you can repeat over and over again.

Critical thinking in four simple steps.

Step 1. Examine the evidence.

Step 2. Explore possibilities.

Step 3. Consider commitments.

Step 4. Choose action.

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Gavin McMahon is a founder and Chief Content Officer for fassforward consulting group. He leads Learning Design and Product development across fassforward’s range of services. This crosses diverse topics, including Leadership, Culture, Decision-making, Information design, Storytelling, and Customer Experience.

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Eugene Yoon is a graphic designer and illustrator at fassforward. She is a crafter of Visual Logic.

Eugene is multifaceted and works on various types of projects, including but not limited to product design, UX and web design, data visualization, print design, advertising, and presentation design.