Stop Thinking on Autopilot – 8 Tips to Wake Your Mind
Thinking is an interesting activity because it seems to be done on our own, yet we also borrow thoughts from the people around us. Sometimes if we are not careful, we may be borrowing other people’s thoughts too heavily, rather than thinking on our own.
One of the worst things we can do is assume that our thinking is already perfect. There is always something we can do to improve the way that we think. And, of course, the way that we think tends to influence our actions in the real world.
Our thoughts and the way we think are quite important, yet often we don’t give this idea much thought - the irony.
If you think on autopilot, you may also take action on autopilot, and you may be barely conscious of your life and not fully even realize this. This autopilot life is something we must learn to overcome by focusing on our thinking.
I believe we all think on autopilot at least some of the time – but fortunately, this post will help us to snap out of it.
Initially, I wanted to make this post about Critical Thinking – but I believe these are actually some of the fundamental thinking principles you need before you can develop into a critical thinker.
Let’s begin.
1. Get a Different Point of View
By being in your mind and body, you usually have your own point of view to judge things. This can lock you into one way of thinking. Rather, it will help grow your thinking abilities if you expose yourself to different cultures, backgrounds, and belief systems. You should seek to empathize and try to deeply understand how different people work and think. In time, you will find that your way of thinking is not the single right way to think.
Example: If your friend tells you that Native Americans exhibit a wide variety of negative qualities, you can assume that he is correct or read stories and view documentaries that are told from the perspective of Native Americans. You may even choose to interview or communicate with a Native American – but only do so if you are open to new ways of perceiving.
2. Test Your Assumptions
I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again - we all make assumptions. I assume every day that the floor I walk on will not break under me. We must make some assumptions to live a normal life. However, for important parts of our lives, we should learn to test our assumptions.
Even when you have information from a reliable source or a source that you trust, test it anyway. Avoid assuming that something is true just because one person or one source told you. You can test it by comparing it to other reliable sources, or perhaps by checking for yourself if the information is actually valid.
Example: If my wife tells me that she turned off all the stove burners, I may check on them to make sure before going to bed. For information that can impact your life, it’s worth checking on those assumptions.
3. Ask Yourself – Who Does This Information Benefit?
Nations build up convenient stories that view themselves in a positive light and view their rivals in a negative way. This may be the same with rival groups or organizations. This can also happen with individuals who end up developing animosity toward each other.
Understand that people tend to focus on information that makes them feel good. When you read information, and it seems to make someone feel good, likely at the expense of others, then you have to start thinking for yourself.
When it is clearly in someone’s benefit that you believe something, you should take extra caution, take a step back and reconsider how accurate this source is.
Example: Next time you hear biased reporting, where every word seems to benefit one group and somehow puts down another group, ask yourself who this is benefiting. Is the information coming from a place where people want to feel good about themselves (or get their audience to feel good about themselves), or are they truly focused on accurate reporting?
4. Come to Your Own Conclusions
When you read or listen to the news the next time, don’t listen to the conclusions that writers or reporters come to. Pretend that you can’t hear it, or simply skip over it. Instead, listen to the facts and the line of reasoning. Then, come to your own conclusions.
You may find that often enough, the conclusions you hear are there to gain people’s attention. The world operates in a way where the more eyes you get on your material, the more money you make. So it is in the news or different agencies benefit if they come to wild conclusions. Those wild conclusions tend to get shared more, incentivizing these agencies to make wilder statements more and more often. Basically, stop trusting the conclusions so much, and stick to the facts.
You can come up with your own conclusions since you have your own mind.
Example: Watch YouTube clips of news reporting - just the part where they focus on facts. List out any mentioned facts, and then come up with your own conclusions based on those facts. Then listen to their conclusions. Compare your conclusions to the ones they come up with. Then ask yourself if you had not done this exercise, would their conclusions have left a greater impact on you? (Perhaps they resorted to name-calling or personal attacks that were not relevant based on the facts.)
5. Be Open to the Possibility of Being Wrong
Many of us make up our minds about something and refuse to consider that we could be wrong. But we should be more open to that idea.
We should learn to pay more attention to whether the “facts” are actually true and correct, whether the line of reasoning is actually correct, and whether the conclusions someone comes to make sense based on the facts and the line of reasoning.
At any point in the process, anyone could be wrong. Are your facts wrong? Is your line of reasoning wrong? Are your conclusions wrong? Even if parts of this chain or process are exaggerated or mistaken, it calls everything into question.
Example: Practice listening to people who have different beliefs or points of view – you can do this with blogs or YouTube. Instead of dismissing their perspective entirely, try to listen to it and consider it fairly. Begin with sources or people you may generally disagree with and who are open, fair, and reasonable in how they talk about issues. Avoid sources that are overly biased and vitriolic – at least when you are beginning.
6. Learn How to Separate Fact from Fiction
To avoid thinking on autopilot, you should develop better systems for figuring out what is true and what is untrue. This can involve asking yourself a variety of questions such as: “Could your senses be deceiving you?”, “Is the source biased,” and “Are they speaking without substance?”
Fortunately, you can learn these tips and much more via a short Free eBook titled What is True? (and What is NOT True) if you sign up here.
7. Learn Something Every Day
A great way to avoid autopilot thinking will be to get into the habit of learning something regularly. There is no good excuse to avoid learning. Most of us make time to get on social media and watch TV and keep up with the news, so we can probably make time to learn something new and meaningful every day.
When you learn more, it becomes difficult for someone to influence you with “facts” that have no basis in reality, a line of faulty reasoning, or conclusions that do not make sense. The more you learn, the more you will realize when you have been given information that doesn’t seem right and deserves to be more properly investigated. If you do not know very much, any piece of information will seem plausible, so you will not know what is worth investigating more deeply.
Example: You can learn by reading blogs or books, engaging in new activities, visiting museums, taking a course (there are plenty of free ones online), listening to podcasts, or finding a tutor or mentor. There are so many ways to learn that you should be able to find something that appeals to you. I would urge you to learn from expert sources based on experience, science, or reason.
8. Don’t Base Your Whole Identity on Another Person or Organization
I often see that people begin to base their whole identity on a particular person, group, or organization. This can be problematic because you will feel the need to agree with everything that this person or group believes in if this happens. Instead, consider that just because you agree or believe in many things that someone else does, does not mean that you are the same. You are allowed to be the same in some ways and different in some ways.
We should always maintain some independence in our thinking. The way we think should be our own – we can be influenced or guided by others – but there is no reason why you must automatically absorb all the ways of thinking from a particular person or group.
Example: If you want to join a group, make it clear that you think for yourself and do not need anyone else to do your thinking for you. You should not feel pressured into agreeing or believing everything that they do. If they are unhappy with this, then it is not a group that you need in your life. If a group wants control over everything you do, including your thoughts, then the connotations here are quite negative – this can be associated with cults or brainwashing, for example.
Otherwise, if you follow someone or a group too closely, take a step back and ask yourself what you really think. Do you truly agree with everything they do, or was it just convenient for you to agree so you wouldn’t need to think things through on your own.
Recommended Readings
The 5 Elements of Effective Thinking by Edward Burger and Michael Starbird
Teach Yourself to Think by Edward de Bono
The Art of Thinking Clearly by Rolf Dobelli
How Not to Be Wrong by Jordan Ellenberg
The Stuff of Thought by Steven Pinker
Post-Truth by Lee McIntyre
Blindspot by Mahzarin Banaji
The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene
Influence by Robert Cialdini
The 7 Levels of Change by Rolf Smith
The Neurogenesis Diet and Lifestyle by Brant Cortright
The Secret Principles of Genius by I. C. Robledo
The Insightful Reader by I. C. Robledo
