How to become an independent thinker

without learning "critical thinking"

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Most people can’t think.

At all.

And it’s becoming a serious fucking problem.

It’s like a thousand problems condensed into one single sentence and I don’t even know where to start.

But I’ll try by offering one potential solution.

A perspective.

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Your “thoughts”

If you are not asking questions and trying to answer them on your own, you’re not thinking. And if you’re using other people’s words to answer the questions you are asking, you are living by other people’s words, and therefore, you are still not thinking.

If you don’t know how to think then you don’t have your own perspective to offer. Without a perspective to offer, you are not an individual.

You simply cannot think.

You’ll be a pawn advocating for someone else’s perspective, someone else’s judgement. Not your own.

Most people don’t question anything they consume. They simply agree and adopt everything at first sight.

You scroll through social media for hours listening to people give out about anything and everything. Everything they say is certainty. Preaching that their way is the right way, the only way, and that any other way is evil. Along with a side-dish of “I don’t fucking like you if you disagree with me.“

But when you consume you’re never asking why.

• You don’t question the source.

• You don’t separate opinions from facts.

• You don’t consider what shaped this person’s perspective.

And it gets worse.

When people do ask questions, they can’t explain their answers in their own words. Even when perspectives get questioned, the people holding the perspectives do the exact same thing. They just regurgitate one-liners from TikTok reels or facts from studies they haven’t read. Then, they hold these ideas as their own.

Because most people’s thoughts are not their own thoughts.

Most of the words coming from your mouth aren’t your own words either. They’re just other people’s words and beliefs because you’ve never learned how to think for yourself.

If you live by someone else’s thinking, you live by someone else’s judgement.

This is a terrifying idea because most people have appalling judgements.

But the real problem isn’t that people lack critical thinking skills. The problem runs far deeper than that.

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Critical thinking is not the answer

Thinking is the gateway to control.

When you can’t think for yourself, other people control your decisions, your beliefs, and ultimately, your life.

And what we need is not better critical thinking skills.

We need develop our judgments.

Most people try to tackle the “how to think” problem by trying to think deeply.

There’s a problem with this approach:

Deep thinking without clear thinking is chaotic thinking.

But before you jump to “critical thinking” as being the antidotal superpower, I’m going to stop you short and hit you with a better alternative.

Most people can’t even define what critical thinking is. But it helps to understand what clear thinking is first and foremost before we begin developing our judgements.

To think clearly, you need clear logic.

Think simple if-then statements:

• If Socrates is a man, and all men are mortal, then Socrates is mortal.

Very clear and simple, and easily understood!

I first came across this example in Bertrand Russell’s The Problems of Philosophy. I’ve read it 3 times in the last 3 years. Fucking love it.

Here’s what happens when you start thinking with logic.

You become capable of distinguishing opinion from fact. How things seem versus how things really are. Like separating wheat from chaff within your own mind. Order starts to appear, and the chaotic thinking becomes controllable.

But here’s the (very human) problem.

Purely rational thinking is an ideal that human’s cannot achieve.

If we all thought based on pure logic, we’d all reach the same conclusions.

Have the same perspectives. The same tastes, hobbies, and interests. We’d like the same bands, the same sports.

There’d be no soul to differentiate your thinking from the next man.

This is because logic only plays a part as to how we think.

Reasoning is logical but human thinking is judgmental.

As human beings, we judge fucking everything.

We’re emotional creatures who judge everything through the lens of our experiences, our values, and our unconscious biases. We often succumb to the (invisible) danger of motivated reasoning - we use logic to support our pre-made judgements. We start with our conclusions and look for logical reasons that support them.

This is why developing a better judgment matters more than perfecting your critical thinking.

Critical thinking is just one piece of the puzzle that gets filtered through your judgement.

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Perspectives are the new oil

AI can now automate logical thinking, making perspectives the new oil for creators and thinkers.

For problem solvers.

Your judgment is your system for making decisions. It’s how you think about evidence, context, and choose actions when there’s no “right” answer for certain. Unlike critical thinking (which follows logical rules), judgment combines logic with your values, your experience, and your intuition, to navigate context-heavy decisions that matter most in life.

Context is HUGE.

In improving my jiu-jitsu, maybe I don’t need to work on my foot-sweeps right now if every time I wrestle I can’t seem to get any underhooks. Logic might say to work on all things equally. But a better judgement naturally guides one towards fixing the biggest problem-gaps first.

Your conscious mind can process 50 bits of information per second.

Your unconscious mind can process 11 million bits of information per second; i.e. the power of flow states.

If I’m sitting down to write 500-1000 words of my newsletter within 60-90 minutes, I’m not using logic to decide every single word choice. I’m dropping into a flow state and letting my unconscious mind do most of the work. I’m leveraging critical thinking and my own intuition.

I’m using my judgement.

Same applies to when I’m trying to defend a double-leg.

I don’t run through a linear set of logical decisions when trying to defend the double-leg. I’m biting the bullet and letting my judgement do the work. I don’t have the time to think critically in this situation.

And all this is personal to you.

Your goals, your values, your past experiences, your understanding of consequences.

If I’m designing a workout program for myself should I optimize for maximum progress or maximum consistency? What about for my girlfriend who wants to build the habit but doesn’t love lifting like I do?

Same domain but different contexts.

Pure logic can’t answer these questions because the “optimal” solution depends on the person. There’s always priorities and trade-offs based on the context and the individuals at hand.

Your judgment creates your unique perspective for solving problems.

But here is the most important fucking part of all this I want drilled into your brain.

Your perspective is not law.

Your perspective is just an offer.

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Your perspective is your offer to the world

Perspectives are just offers, not laws, requiring constant testing against truth and wisdom; against all other perspectives in search of these things.

Swiss psychologist Carl Jung believed that psychology is an expression of its founder.

That’s why we have Freud’s psychoanalysis. Adler’s individual psychology. Jung’s own analytical psychology. There’s no one psychological school of thought, although pure logic might say there should be just one. There’s only one human psyche after all? But they’re all perspectives, offers, potential solutions from individuals who actually tried to think for themselves.

This newsletter is just a perspective.

It’s not certain.

Not 100% right or wrong.

This is just a perspective, that will very much change in the future as I learn from other perspectives on all this.

This newsletter serves only as a potential solution to the problem of “how to think.”

If you take something valuable from it, great! Take what is valuable and leave the rest.

If not, I hope I’ve got you thinking on what your perspective is on this.

It’s just a possible solution, written by me - Craig :) - based on how my perspective stands, right now, in this present moment, based on the knowledge I currently have.

When you understand that perspectives are offers and not demands, everything changes:

• Disagreement = collaboration (not combat)

• Changing your mind = growth (not failure)

• Uncertainty = opportunity (not weakness)

Because a perfect judgment, like pure rational thinking, is an ideal that can never be fully attained. But a better judgement is within anyone’s reach if they know how to get there.

The mark of a good thinker is to hold an authentic perspective. A perspective built on truth and respect. A perspective that humbly embraces uncertainty.

In other words, a perspective that stems from having a better judgement than a poor one.

If you know how to think, you can get anything you want in life because you understand how life works.

And this is how you become an independent thinker:

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How to develop your judgement

(1) Questioning

Clear thinking before deep thinking.

Never feel absolutely certain of anything. You are looking for truth. Always. You’re not trying to destroy people in arguments.

When encountering any idea, ask:

• What are they actually saying? What’s their core point?

• Why should I believe this? What’s the evidence?

• How did they reach this conclusion?

• Who benefits if I accept this perspective?

• Where does this information come from?

• When might this not apply?

Then, dig deeper:

• Does this come from reasoned argument or emotional appeal?

• Is it internally consistent?

• What are the hidden assumptions?

• Are there motives to make me feel a certain way?

• Is the source reliable and credible?

• Do they use language that suggests evidence is unnecessary?

If you don’t understand something, question it. You only have to ask a “stupid” question once.

Don’t be afraid to question authority. Bertrand Russell said in his rules of thinking to not respect the authority of others (in relation to pure thought), because a contrary authority can always be found.

Be certain of nothing, even your own authority on a topic.

You’re questioning the world to improve your understanding of the world. By asking a question, you’re detecting gaps. Knowledge gaps. Areas where the truth may be lacking.

The big idea behind this step is that you’re embracing uncertainty. You’re staying open-minded and curious. You’re being skeptical in a healthy way.

Never be afraid to ask questions because if the truth is present, those being questioned will always happily answer you.

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(2) Perspective arbitrage

Attack your own thinking from every angle possible.

Your perspective. Your judgement.

Do the same with other people too. But be respectful. People don’t like to be criticized. But go haywire on yourself.

Nietzsche said the true test of character is how much truth a man can tolerate. Be polite and respectful with others, but ruthless with developing your own character.

Remember: a perspective is just a perspective. It’s not certain. It’s not 100% right or wrong. But there can be better and worse arguments for and against maintaining a set perspective.

The purpose of this step is to strengthen the argument for your own perspective. Not for personal gain, but for living by the truth, adopting individual responsibility, and for gaining knowledge.

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(3) Explanation

Always explain your understandings in your own words because if not, you’re using someone else’s words.

This exposes gaps in your knowledge and in the strength of your judgment. Attack it from all angles. Cross-stress your understandings with every perspective you can find.

Because none of them are right. None of them are laws. They are offers.

This makes you curious and authentic. You embrace uncertainty within your perspective and make that your offer. Your offer being the best solution you can conceive of (from your perspective) towards achieving “the good” in a given context.

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(4) Beware of motivated reasoning

Don’t work backwards from a conclusion.

This is called motivated reasoning. This usually happens when emotions or beliefs get in the way, creating poorer judgments.

This involves finding reasons to support a conclusion you deliberately or intuitively want proved.

Just because I say we should improve our judgments, does not mean I’m saying that logic goes out the window. It is absolutely a massive part of developing a good judgment, and the objective truth should be at the forefront of everything you search for.

The truth is always best, even when it hurts.

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We don’t all believe and value the same things.

And people are going to have perspectives you don’t agree with.

Beliefs and values. Stronger or weaker judgments.

If you don’t agree with someone, and they don’t want to change their stance, leave them be.

You can and absolutely should disagree with people, but we also need to get along with one another. If yourself and 50% of people like mochas, but the other 50% don’t, are you really going to hate 50% of all fucking people?

Just to put a belief above another person?

Learning to get along with people you disagree with seems to be a dying skill of this century.

Have a perspective and stay open-minded; put the truth, respect, and love above your desires.

Your perspective is not law. Your perspective is just an offer.

So make it a good one. Learn how to think.

Thanks for reading. You’re an absolute legend.

- Craig :)

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