Critical thinking as a success factor for change and transformation

I admit it, critical thinking has fallen into a bit of disrepute and is often equated these days with lateral thinkers, con-artists and “whatever-it's-about-I'm-just-basically-against-everything types”. But this form of anti-attitude has nothing whatsoever to do with critical thinking. What's more, if you make critical thinking an integral part of your everyday life, you will not only be able to deal better with any form of change, but also lead a more successful life overall. So it's time to take a closer look. Do you feel like it? Then let's get started.

 

As an internationally active Keynote Speaker I have the great pleasure of being booked by my clients for conferences around the globe. Sounds sexy, doesn't it? And it is to a certain extent, but of course it also means that I spend a lot of time at airports and on board all kinds of airplanes, which admittedly isn't one of my favorite things to do. By the way, I love flying itself. It's the waiting and the increasing complexity of air travel that I don't like.

 

But I make the best of it and use the many hours in the air for a very important thing that often falls by the wayside in the otherwise often hectic everyday life. I enjoy the time for myself. I read an exciting thriller, watch a series on Netflix or think about life itself. No incoming emails, phone calls or other distractions can disturb me, and it's a bit like a spa for my soul. 

 

But when I look around me on my many flights, most people are mainly in „function mode“. They talk frantically into their cell phones, like to blurt out internal company information at an extremely high volume so that everyone around them knows exactly what the company's current problems are, open their laptops immediately after take-off and work on extensive Excel spreadsheets with a fascinating obsession. But why is that? Why do some people not even manage to relax a little on a 45-minute flight from Berlin to Frankfurt? 

 

On the one hand, I suspect that many a manager - and increasingly many a female manager - considers themselves too important and has succumbed to the fatal misconception that the company would not be able to manage without them for a single hour. The other reason, however, is even more widespread. People simply don't manage to break out of their usual routines and standard procedures. And of course, familiar routines are important because they give our job a certain stability and familiarity - just think of one of our most important human needs, safety. But if you are trapped in your own routines, this fundamentally positive quality can quickly turn negative. When procedures, processes and behaviors are no longer questioned, they tend to become absurd, ridiculous and stupid.

 

One decisive mantra therefore applies above all: The focus should ALWAYS be on the needs of your customers, never on internal processes. Haven't you ever been annoyed when employees of a company have completely lost sight of you as a customer and their behavior is oriented exclusively to internal company processes and requirements? In such cases, I always have to think of the ingenious book title of my esteemed colleague Edgar Geffroy, who summed it up so well with the title of a book: „The only thing that bothers us is the customer!“

Especially when I think of visits to authorities or calls to hotlines of large corporations, I can think of hundreds of examples off the top of my head, but since we were just talking about air travel, let's stick with that. Have you ever asked yourself why the procedures on board are the way they are? Why does the crew really have to explain the safety instructions every time, even though nobody is listening anyway? Why should my little iPhone be able to disrupt the operation of a huge Airbus A380, but the other way round there are no problems? (By the way: If you want a good laugh, enter „Why can't you use phones on planes?“ in the YouTube search. Just great, and somehow sad at the same time). 

 

And every time I ask myself anew where the flight attendants learn their announcements. And by that I mean, of course, the mostly irrelevant content, but especially the form. Seriously, no normal person speaks in such an artificial manner and with such an obvious lack of interest. No wonder nobody listens. Incidentally, the same announcements from the cockpit fall into exactly the same category. For many years I have wondered who actually cares what altitude you are flying at, what the outside temperature is and where the wind is coming from at the destination airport. This information may be interesting for the captain and his co-pilot, but the passengers, i.e. the customers, are not interested at all.

 

The answer, as in so many other areas of life, is that we have always done it this way. At some point, a process was set in motion that is now reliably carried out by everyone involved without anyone questioning it critically. The person performing the task brushes aside any question of meaning and undergoes a metamorphosis into a mindless worker bee. This leads to fatal behavior. People only think in terms of internal processes, rules and mechanisms, completely forgetting the needs of their own customers.

 

But fortunately there are more and more people who can no longer be fobbed off with the killer argument „We've always done it this way“. Critical thinkers, in other words, who think for themselves, question the status quo and then give meaning back to the soulless process. I recently flew home from Munich to Berlin late at night. And suddenly the unexpected happened. The pilot announced himself from the cockpit. 

 

In a perfectly normal voice, he announced: „Dear guests, I would like to invite you to take a look out of the window. Even we pilots rarely experience a starry night like this. It is simply a wonderful view. At this moment, you can see almost all of Brandenburg. And our passengers on the left are particularly lucky, because the view as we fly towards Berlin is simply breathtaking. It fascinates me every time. I just wanted to let you know briefly. I hope you continue to have a good flight. Thank you for allowing my team and I to take you safely to your destination today.“

 

How often do you experience situations where you want to applaud spontaneously? Luckily, the man was standing in front of his cockpit when I got out, so I (and many other guests) could shake his hand and say thank you. Because even if it was only a few sentences, the departure from the mindless (and in my eyes pointless) routine meant that we experienced one of those magical moments that you remember fondly for a long time to come. And if you look closely, life is full of people like that. 

 

Unfortunately, however, we have become too accustomed to the fact that the masses prefer to act according to the rulebook and leave thinking to regulations and pointless rules. An important component of the Success is therefore critical thinking. An ability that has unfortunately become very rare because many people have become accustomed to the media, politics or anonymous committees telling them what is important, right or wrong. Please never succumb to this fatal convenience, but cultivate the art of critical thinking. And by that I don't mean that you should become one of those anti-people who are fundamentally against everything. No, critical thinking is above all the question of the Sense, relevance or customer orientation. My advice: question everything. Pointless processes, internal procedures and mindless routines. Question entrenched opinions, beliefs and prejudices, especially your own, of course.

 

Or in a nutshell: Question everything. Including this impulse that you should question everything.

 

Two things will happen as soon as you start to make a difference as a critical thinker: Firstly, you will receive a lot of headwind from those around you. No wonder, because you are suddenly questioning processes, routines and procedures that are considered to be universally valid. This is not always pleasant, but what would be the alternative? 

 

And something else will happen. You will notice a dramatic increase in fulfillment, satisfaction and meaning in your everyday life. Because you will only do things that really have a purpose and you will clearly reject all meaningless activities. To make this much easier for you in the future, I would like to introduce you to three specific tools that will help you cultivate critical thinking.

 

The best guide we have in life is meaning. It gives an ordinary job meaning, a routine a raison d'être and our lives significance. Just as an aside: something can be meaningful or have meaning, but the common phrase „that makes sense“ is meaningless. This is yet another example of something being used by everyone and then no longer critically questioned by anyone.

 

Now we come to the all-important question with which you can reliably put the opinions, prejudices, values, beliefs and supposed facts of those around you, and of course yourself, to the test. The question is: How do I know that? In order to be able to give an answer, force yourself to get to the core of your original experience and thereby examine its meaningfulness. The more often you ask yourself this question, the more you will realize how many opinions and beliefs we have simply adopted from other people, the media or our environment. On the one hand, this requires courage, of course, but on the other hand it is the only option if you want to lead a self-determined life based on your own standards.

 

Yes, you read that right. Create a list of things that you want to consciously avoid from now on. not will do more. Because isn't that the case? A classic to-do list can take on gigantic proportions, and we often simply feel overwhelmed by the mass of obligations. Fortunately, there is an extremely effective antidote to this: prioritize and consistently 

 

Say no. No to time wasters. No to procrastination. No to all the tasks that we like to deal with day in, day out, but which ultimately don't bring us an inch closer to our goals. The more you cultivate saying no, the more you say yes at the same time. Yes to more personal freedom. Yes to more focus. Yes to more Self-determination. So grab your journal or a piece of paper and write down all the things you will no longer do from now on. After just a few days, you will notice how your time management becomes more effective and productive. And as a nice side effect, creating your not-to-do list will also increase your inner clarity at the same time.

And then comes the next list, which really packs a punch. Similar to the Not-to-to list, its big sister, the IDGAF list, also focuses on letting go, saying no and setting boundaries. However, its effect is even more powerful. And of course the name is also a touch cooler, because IDGAF stands for „I don't give a fuck!“. And precisely this Attitude is essential if you want to lead a self-determined life. Because the more you do your own thing, the more you will experience the following reactions from those around you: Lack of understanding, criticism, rejection, know-it-all attitude, nagging, active opposition and very often subtle emotional blackmail. You will hear phrases such as „You can't just...“, „But you should...“ or „You urgently need to...“. Does this sound familiar to you?

 

On the one hand, you can be a little proud when you receive such reactions to your personality, because people can only rub up against rough edges. On the other hand, it can also become a real burden if the headwind becomes too strong. This makes it all the more important to let go of what other people think about you, expect from you or demand how you should function. You can't prevent all of this, but you can make the decision that you are no longer interested in it from now on. 

 

So from now on, follow the mantra of bestselling author Tommy Jaud, who summed it up so wonderfully: „I don't have to do shit!“ And then create your own personal IDGAF list. Write down everything that annoys you: whether other people like your life, your opinion, your decisions or your ideas. How your clothes are received, what people say about your driving style or taste in music. All the many things that make you say inwardly: „I don't give a fuck! As long as it makes me happy, I don't care what other people think of it.“ The more you detach yourself from the expectations of others in this way, the more you can align yourself with your own aspirations and standards.

 

With these three tools, you can take your critical thinking skills to a new level. It is best to hang the two lists up in a clearly visible place at your workplace so that you can refer to them every day. And then enjoy your life as a critical thinker. You may often seem exotic to others in an age of conformity, uniformity and mediocrity, but it is the only way to lead a fulfilled and happy life. Well, and of course you should immediately subject this claim to critical scrutiny.

 

And, of course, I'm very interested in how you see the topic of „critical thinking“. Write me your opinion as a comment...