Critical thinking skills

We devour about 74 GB of information daily, and this increases by 5% each year. That’s much more data than our human brains can handle, and therefore it develops techniques to filter out important information.

Yet, that information is only sometimes accurate. Instead, your existing values and beliefs shape your brain’s filters. It isn’t very objective if we stop to think about it. And we seldom question what we consider to be the truth.

So, critical thinking is more important than ever. How can you develop this valuable skill? Here are some tips:

• Ask more questions: Please don’t assume you know everything. Instead, ask “why” and ask it as often as possible!
• Read from varied sources: Learn about different ideas, viewpoints, and perspectives, especially when you disagree with something.
• Practice active listening and understand the perspective and goals of a person making their point.
• Challenge your own beliefs: What viewpoint do you have? How did you mold it? Tip: We often need to be corrected.
• Find the opposing argument: One of the best ways to become a critical thinker is to step into someone else’s shoes. What are their opinions? Can they be right? And how does their argument fit into your bigger picture?

Summarizing critical thinking in 3 steps:

1. Stop assuming you’re right and start asking more questions.
2. Become curious about the world and other people’s perspectives.
3. Change the way you think.

Photo Editing

Besides being fun, digital photo editing happens to be a talent that’s becoming more sought after in today’s world.

While it can take a while to become skilled in photo editing software, a few online classes will have you picking up the basics of filters, cropping, and image correction in no time.