We ended the previous lesson with the statement that one of the most serious obstacles to development critical thinking is irrational thinking. But what is it? Why is this common to so many people? What impact does it have on human life and activity? How to get rid of it and is it necessary to do it? We will answer these and some other questions in the fifth lesson.

Irrational and its characteristics

If we try to explain the concept of “irrational” from the position of philosophy, then it can be characterized as a certain beginning of human nature, opposite property rationally, i.e. understand this world intelligently. The irrational admits that there are areas of the worldview that the mind is not able to understand, but nevertheless they are acceptable thanks to faith, feelings, and intuition. Thus, irrationality is one of the characteristics special character reality. Over the years, issues of the irrational have been studied by such famous philosophers as Bergson, Delta, Nietzsche, Schopenhauer and many others.

So to speak, “free” individuals who do not think about the consequences can allow themselves to think irrationally. To act this way is to admit that reality cannot always be understood through scientific methods. Based on the views of supporters of ir. rational thinking, reality with all its components and derivatives, for example, life and psychological processes, is not subject to generally accepted laws.

Of course, such a position has its place, but in the case of critical thinking it is completely unsuitable. Irrational people strive to know the laws of existence, violating all generally accepted laws, and rational people, on the contrary, think critically, not trusting what cannot be verified, relying only on reliable and confirmed facts. And, taking this into account, we must say that even if the irrational is characteristic of you, if you want to develop the ability to think critically, you must at least temporarily discard everything that may contradict it.

What exactly is to be discarded? Let's try to clarify this point, because irrational thoughts can be different types.

Typology of irrational thoughts and their influence

Irrational thoughts are thoughts that interfere with the objective and adequate perception surrounding reality, and from the position of behavioral psychology - even serving as the cause of the appearance.

In total, we can distinguish three categories of irrational thinking and the corresponding types of thoughts:

• Exaggeration. This includes thoughts like: “She noticed that I was unsure of myself,” “They definitely thought something was wrong with me,” “He sees right through me,” etc.
• Overgeneralization. This includes thoughts like: “If I was chickening out then, then I’ll be chickening out now”, “He communicates with everyone like that - and he won’t ignore me”, “No one passed this exam - I have no chance”, etc.
• Mind reading. This includes thoughts like: “She thinks I’m angry and conflicted,” “I know what you think about me,” “He realized that I thought badly of him,” etc.

There are other types of similar thoughts, but to one degree or another they will belong to one of the categories of irrational train of thought. Their greatest danger is that they trigger catastrophic thinking: a person plunges headlong into groundless worry and panic, and his ability to make decisions and act is completely paralyzed. There can be no question of any critical thinking here.

Topical illustrative examples You can find irrational thinking in books dedicated to working with it. Here are some options:

• Kahneman Daniel
• Goleman Daniel
• "Emotional Flexibility" David Susan
• “Problem Solving Using Intelligence Techniques” Jones Morgan
• Goldsmith Marshall and Reuter Mark

Here it would be logical to talk a little about how irrational thinking influences what a person does.

As has already become clear, irrational means illogical, unscientific and without any criticism. Irrational actions are aimed at obtaining results, but the actions themselves are not thought through or evaluated in advance. There is no meaning in advance here possible options development of the course of events, resolution of issues or solutions to problems.

All this, as a rule, has a very direct connection with the spontaneous manifestation of feelings and emotions that irritate or calm thoughts. Irrational individuals can observe manifestations of reality beyond the limits of their logical explanations, and also tend to believe unconfirmed facts simply because they dominate others. Such people neglect to use the so-called life instructions, i.e. thoughtful behavioral strategies and action algorithms. The basis for this behavior in most cases is a person’s belief in a positive outcome, even if he does not understand at all practical basics and the reasons for success if achieved. Most often, success is explained by luck or favor of fate.

But from a practical and even more so from a critical position, either a child or a child can allow himself to behave this way. In addition, when thinking or drawing conclusions, it is effectively guided by the rule of conservation of energy, and thinking irrationally, simply relying on patterns and the first information received, is less expensive in terms of time and effort. But if knowledge based on upbringing or experience is irrational, nothing good will come of it.

Here is just a small list of factors that hinder effective thinking and correct actions- irrational thinking:

• Spontaneously and without reason
• Leads a person away from right thoughts
• May interfere with a person's daily activities
• Reduces efficiency in professional and other areas
• Often activated when it is not needed
• Causes irritability, depression and anxiety
• Disrupts adaptation to to the outside world
• Not flexible
• Causes development
• Produces
• Produces fear of communicating with authorities and more knowledgeable people
• Reduces motivation to achieve new results
• Can make a person feel lonely
• Causes problems in personal, social and professional life
• Creates dependence on other people and public opinion
• Promotes development bad habits

Behavioral psychology, and banal everyday experience they talk about what more like a person realizes the irrationality and illogicality of his thoughts and actions, the faster favorable changes will begin to occur in his life: the number of negative events and mistakes will decrease, the psyche will become stronger and resistance to stress will increase, personal productivity and efficiency will increase, and a critical approach to information processing will be formed.

It is wrong for a sane person to think irrationally. But this obstacle to the development of critical thinking can only be overcome when the reasons for its appearance are known. And it’s worth talking about them in more detail.

Causes of irrational thinking

To begin with, it is worth saying that behavioral stereotypes are often laid down in early childhood. They are necessary because not only save energy and time for making decisions, but also contribute to initial adaptation to life and society, ensuring the survival of the individual. But upon reaching adulthood, a person begins to encounter “failures”, i.e. with problems with irrational thinking. The main reasons for this are the following:

• Not all mental patterns and mechanisms formed in childhood, turn out to be true
• Not all thought patterns and mechanisms that are suitable for a child are suitable for an adult

Irrationalism is a disorder of thinking. Subsequently, this leads to problems of adaptation to the surrounding reality. In addition, destructive basic attitudes are formed in the human mind, namely:

• Excessive demands on oneself (I should do this, I shouldn’t do that)
• Excessive demands on the environment (they should do this, they shouldn’t do that)
• Catastrophization (if this happens, it’s the end, horror, death, catastrophe, everything is lost, etc.)
• Low frustration tolerance (I won’t be able to survive this, this is the end for me, etc.)

Adding up all the thoughts above, the output we get is something like: “In no case should I stumble during my speech. If I suddenly stumble, they should not make fun of me. But if this happens, it means the end for me, I won’t survive it.”

In reality, the variety of thoughts can be much wider, but if you discard all unnecessary things, you can always see the standard mechanism of irrational thinking, triggered every time different situations in a modified form. By the way, such a scheme often causes all sorts of problems.

Any problem, any phenomenon or process, when confronted with which a person experiences psychological discomfort, can be disassembled into elements in order to find the main irrational scheme that causes fear, anxiety, panic and other manifestations and disrupts interaction with the outside world.

Speaking in simple language, someone who is unable to distinguish between fiction and truth, as well as find cause-and-effect relationships, uses irrational thinking. It will never help you predict events or calculate the results of your actions, which is why spontaneous actions and unnecessary experiences arise.

But rational and critical thinking to some extent also includes an irrational, one might say spiritual, component. For example, people of art, creating unique works, often contradict logical laws, although they act deliberately. However, the irrational should not dominate the mind of a sane person, and its manifestations can and should be fought.

How to deal with irrational thinking

Overcoming irrationalism is not easy, but with due diligence and systematic training it is quite possible. It is only important to know what to do. There are many ways, and now we will introduce them to you.

Definition of irrational thoughts

Identifying irrational thoughts is difficult only at the first stage. Often they appear in the head very quickly and automatically, they appear as if out of nowhere, and it is almost impossible to catch them consciously. For this reason, the task can be simplified: get yourself a notebook, where during the day and every day you will write down thoughts that can cause you negative emotions, anxiety and worries. With practice, it will become easy to determine their appearance, because... your brain will be trained and adapted to it.

Establishing objectivity of thoughts

When you are calm, relaxed and nothing is bothering you, ask yourself the question: “How objective are my thoughts?” For example, today someone didn’t want to communicate with you, and you immediately started thinking up God knows what. But look at the situation critically: maybe he was just tired and out of sorts? And if you showed a little timidity when communicating with someone, will that someone really have a negative opinion of you?

To become more aware of the bias in your thoughts, use simple trick: look at the situation with new side. Those. if you see a person exhibiting the same timidity, do you immediately think badly of that person? And if you don't want to this moment Does communicating with someone mean you don't like him? Most likely, this is not the case at all. Always evaluate the situation from several sides, and life will become much simpler and more interesting.

Replacing the irrational with the rational

Another method is the systematic replacement of irrational thoughts with rational, more objective ones. But you can expect tangible results only after some time. At the first steps, psychological discomfort may be felt, but it must be bravely overcome with daily training. Gradually he will enter your comfort zone.

Here is an example of good thoughts that can replace irrational ones: “It’s quite possible that he didn’t notice my timidity,” “It might have seemed to me that she didn’t want to communicate,” “Yes, they most likely didn’t even think about me,” etc. P.

If we summarize these three methods, we can draw the following conclusion: for example, in a few minutes you will have to make contact with an unfamiliar person. The time before the meeting is getting shorter, and your anxiety is getting stronger. And now is the time to ask yourself why you are scared. Most likely, the fear is due to the fact that your future interlocutor may notice some peculiarities in your behavior: a slightly hesitant voice, a slight trembling of your hands, etc., which is why he will have a negative image of you. This is where critical thinking skills come into play:

• The interlocutor’s thoughts may be occupied with something else at the time of communication
• The interlocutor may not notice the peculiarities of your behavior
• Even if the interlocutor notices something, he is unlikely to analyze it, and after a few minutes he will already forget about you

You can see for yourself that there is really nothing terrible. Irrational thinking plays a cruel joke. But if such a procedure is carried out regularly anxiety states will gradually begin to recede and lose strength.

And here are a few more good reception the fight against the irrational that offers us behavioral psychology:

Don't go to extremes

When assessing a situation, try to avoid extremes like “this is definitely bad”, “only this is good”, “this is the end”, “one way or not at all”, etc. There are several ways to overcome such thoughts:

• Eliminate extreme words such as “never” or “always” from your vocabulary. Stop using these terms to refer to yourself, the people around you, and the world in which you live.
• Accept the fact that there are no bad or good people, bad or good situations. In any person and in any situation, if you wish, you can find advantages and positive sides.
• Give up categorical thinking. Sometimes it is better to accept yourself along with your shortcomings and weaknesses than to convince yourself and others of their absence. Often this helps justify your behavior and thinking.

Avoid catastrophic thoughts

By exaggerating the scale and significance of the problem, you make things worse for yourself. When talking about something unpleasant, you shouldn’t give “not very good” the form “nightmarish.” It’s easy to change your attitude towards problems and troubles:

• Think about the fact that the problematic situation, although not good, does not at all lead to inevitable death and the collapse of all hopes
• Try to compare the problematic situation with something truly terrible, for example, the death of someone close to you, or how homeless or unjustly imprisoned people feel

You can also try to calm yourself down:

• “In fact, there’s nothing wrong with it to worry so much.”
• “Yes, it’s unpleasant, but life doesn’t end there”
• “In any case, everything will work out”
• “No one has ever died from this”

Think objectively

If you notice that you are prone to exaggeration and irrationalism, and often draw pictures to yourself dire consequences Even with minor problems, train yourself to think objectively:

• Life presents not only trials, but also joyful events, and a black stripe will always be followed by a white one
• Even if the outcome of some situation may be bad, its probability is extremely low
• Why worry about something that didn't happen? Most likely, nothing bad will happen, and worrying is just a waste of energy
• Model different variants development of events, and then predict the likelihood of each of them occurring

Mentally relax

Many people often have the thought “I can’t do this anymore.” But this is typical of irrational and insecure people. To overcome irrational thoughts, you need to convince yourself that, despite the difficulties in this moment, after a while you will feel better and you will solve your problems.

And, summing up this section, all that remains to be said is that the most effective way overcome irrationalism and negative experiences is a critical approach: question your feelings and sensations and analyze the illogical and irrational thoughts underlying them.

Irrational thinking is generated by a person’s desire to believe in his fantasies. These are almost incoherent arguments that have no logical basis and are based on feelings and assumptions. Rational and critical thinking, on the contrary, consists in taking only facts and evidence based on logic and cause-and-effect relationships as the basis for reflection and future actions. The benefits and effectiveness of this approach are obvious and undeniable, but we’ll still say a few words about it.

Benefits of Rational Thinking

Rational thinking helps to draw conclusions using logical chains for this. The desire to think critically and rationally helps to work on your shortcomings. When logical thinking is taken into account, a person stops performing spontaneous actions, and this minimizes the occurrence of unpleasant surprises.

When we think rationally, we begin to see things as they are, we can explain what previously seemed inexplicable, we become calmer and find the shortest and most effective ways to achieve our goals, and we are able to focus on the things that are of highest priority at the moment.

Learning to think rationally is not difficult. All you need to do is follow a small series simple rules and tips:

• All thinking must begin with a search reliable information. This is not always easy, but it is impossible to build logical chains leading to the right conclusions and actions without verified data.
• When thinking about something, always take into account that not only the position of another person, but also your own may be incorrect. Ask others what they think about the subject of your thoughts. This will allow you to look at the situation from different angles.
• Do not base your judgments on the actions and behavior of others only external manifestations. Are you sure that the person does not want to communicate with you? What is this conclusion based on? Based on speculation or logic? Guessing doesn't mean anything. You must strive to find out the truth. When you want to be sure of something, look for facts that confirm it.
• Never think for a person and make decisions for him, do not try to read his thoughts. One of them is to listen carefully to your interlocutor and perceive only what he says.
• If, when communicating with a person, you have doubts about the sincerity of his actions and words, just ask him a few direct questions, express your thoughts that concern you and try to communicate confidentially.

The advantages of rational thinking can be clearly demonstrated with the following example: you talked with a person and he voiced his grievances and reproaches to you, explained that your views and actions are unacceptable to him. The first thing you want to do in response is to repay in the same coin. However, what will be the result, other than misunderstandings, quarrels and hostility? Perhaps even more emotional discomfort and a long-term break in the relationship.

It will be much more effective to try to maintain calm, balance and self-respect. And rational thinking suggests doing something much simpler in this case: analyze your actions and words that caused criticism and dissatisfaction from your interlocutor, and accept critical opinion from the outside. You need to come to a compromise - seek mutual understanding and agreement on an issue for which you have different views. At the same time, you should make it clear to the other person that problematic situations can be resolved without humiliation, scandals and insults, and this is acceptable for you.

A rational approach and the development of critical thinking will help you regain your calm and psychological comfort. In any situation when you find yourself in the grip of irrational thoughts caused by emotions, fatigue, overwork or stress, banish them from yourself as soon as possible.

It doesn’t matter who you are: a chemist, physicist, mathematician, military man, businessman, a simple company employee or a student, rational and critical thinking can be for you effective means to achieve goals, solve everyday problems and professional tasks, improving communication with people and interaction with the outside world, and developing one’s abilities.

To increase your immunity to irrational thoughts, we recommend that you lead healthy image life, rest more, sleep properly, and cultivate in yourself good mood And positive attitude. And, of course, read the relevant literature: Daniel Kahneman “Think Slow, Decide Fast”, Kate Stanovich “Rational Thinking. What aptitude tests don’t measure”, Diana Halpern “The Psychology of Critical Thinking”, Robert Burton “Mind VS Brain. Conversation on different languages"and other books.

And in final lesson of our course we will touch on one more important issue concerning critical thinking - working with information. This is what we have to deal with every day, and our conclusions and judgments, the effectiveness of our decisions and the competence of our actions depend on its reliability. In lesson six, you will learn how to search for information, how to analyze and store it, for what purposes information can be used, how to work with it, and how to make decisions based on it.

Want to test your knowledge?

If you want to check your theoretical knowledge on the topic of the course and understand how suitable it is for you, you can take our test. For each question, only 1 option can be correct. After you select one of the options, the system automatically moves on to the next question.

Instructions

Learn to control your emotions when communicating with people around you. If someone has offended or insulted you, do not rush to get into a fight. Count to ten, take a few deep breaths. Conduct the dialogue in a calm, business-like tone.

Try to give thoughtful answers. If you are faced with a difficult or uncomfortable question, ask the other person for time to think about it. In some cases, the most reasonable solution is to tactfully avoid the conversation.

Organize the phenomena you observe and look for cause-and-effect relationships in them. The ability to ask questions will help you with this. the right questions. Questions themselves stimulate thinking and force you to look for an answer.

Don't take anything for granted. Subject all information coming to you carefully critical analysis. Question stereotypes common in society.

Before you make any decision, think about the consequences it will have. Weigh all the pros and cons of this or that choice. Feel free to ask for advice from more experienced people.

When looking through newspapers and magazines, highlight key points and facts. Summarize messages, sum up what was said or read. Weed out unnecessary and unimportant information.

Plan your activities. Write down point by point everything you want to do. Evaluate the resources you have (time, money, knowledge, etc.). Allocate resources according to your priorities. It's wise to write down people's names and contacts - it's hard to predict whose help you might need.

Helpful advice

Play chess, solve logic and math problems, guess the puzzles. Remember that reasonable people They do not follow bad habits, but form new, useful ones. For example, running in the morning is a great habit that is good for you. efficient work brain

Tip 2: How to learn to control your emotions and make reasonable decisions

The ability to put aside your emotions makes it possible to solve problems more productively, rather than dwell on worries and fears. By getting rid of panic, excessive emotionality and learning to react correctly to events, a person will be able to move through life more confidently.

The ability to control your emotions makes a person more successful and happier. Such people treat everything that happens calmer, concentrating not on negative emotions, but on solving the problems that have arisen.

Paying attention to your behavior different situations, you can develop the necessary skills to maintain inner peace.

Error emotional person are hasty conclusions. It is necessary to concentrate on avoiding premature decisions, because they are the ones that most often turn out to be wrong. Give yourself time to think before making a decision. Take a deep breath and mentally count from ten to zero. This will help you discard everything unnecessary and make a decision, avoiding the influence of emotions.

If life situation causes strong excitement and the first exercise does not allow you to completely get rid of negative thoughts, you need to try to simply throw out all the negative emotions before making decisions. You shouldn't keep it to yourself negative energy, anger, anger, resentment. These feelings are very destructive. Recognize the emotion, live it, if necessary, shout, tear the paper, stomp your feet. You'll see, soon the negativity will go away.

Also common problem in accepting right decisions is panic. Panic attack can overtake a person in various situations, most of which do not give rise to any cause for concern. Panic only clouds the mind and prevents you from dealing with problems. If any business causes you a feeling of panic, then concentrating on the things that accompany your business will help you cope with it. For example, you should pay attention to what things you should take with you, what to wear, and what time to leave. This will distract from the general panic.

Constantly monitor your reactions to everything that happens. You can't make decisions based on emotions. First, calm down, and then start thinking about the situation. This way you will achieve better results.

We start our workdays with an unusual article - this is not instructions for promotion on social networks, this is not a success story, this is much more basic information- about how to achieve personal effectiveness. And you can achieve it by realizing how comfortable you are to work - in what mode and rhythm, with what approach. Today's material is about the so-called irrationals - creative personalities, which, alas, will not become effective until they accept their nature and begin to work, starting from it.

People of an irrational nature are rewarded with everything: a lazy person, a modest little genius, creative person, how the earth generally carries such people, a goofball, a rebel, a five-year sentence in two days. You don’t understand how you can sentence a five-year prisoner in two days and still be a goof? Most likely, you simply don’t know what an irrational person is.

All people are partly irrational, it’s just that in some people carelessness rules the roost (as in me, for example), and in others rationality takes over. But practice has shown that the respectable public loves classifications. Here are a few points that will help you understand your nature. So you are irrational if:

• tried one hundred and twenty-five planning methods, but none of them work;
• tried to fit ourselves into the framework of thousands of time management systems, but everyone got bored the very next day;
• it's easier for you to sentence big project, designed for a month, in a couple of days, and then lie down and relax while the rest work hard;
• you know what it is flow state: Actually, you always work in this state. The eyes sparkle, everything burns in the hands, a sea of ​​energy;
• you live from impulse to impulse, from idea to idea. If you don’t have an idea, if you don’t “rush”, then you are a vegetable. But then the idea came - and the eyes sparkled again;
• are able to concentrate so much on a task that sometimes it seems to others that you are a magician, “so you normal people can not be";
• know how to inspire, convince and lead;
• sin big amount“tails” and unfinished projects;
• you conflict with those around you who are trying to set you on the right path and push you into a diary: “Plan and be happy.”

Irrational people really are considered lazy, they think twice before starting a project or two with us, because we are “ creative people, and such people often miss deadlines.” What also adds fuel to the fire is that irrational people often reproach themselves for their carelessness and whine: “Why am I not like everyone else?!”

Time management systems “45/15”, “60/60/30” are not about us

Irrational works in the flow. The flow can last fifteen minutes or a good three hours - for example, if you are working on the next chapter work of art. Plan in blocks. I take four-hour blocks, with an hour break in between for lunch, chores, or phone calls. Our strength is that we know how to dive headfirst.

Project planning

Any self-respecting irrational person begins to have an attack of impotent rage when it comes time to write a detailed project plan. That's great, don't write. Projects can also be planned in blocks. Combine several tasks of the same type into a block and indicate a specific result. And then - nothing at all: you immerse yourself in the flow and work with inspiration.

Summarize

Every irrational person can boast of a huge number of unfinished projects - we quickly “burn out” and get bored with the task. Is it possible to get rid of “tails” altogether? No. Is it possible to somehow influence the situation? Yes. Summarize the results, intermediate and “big”, final. It sounds strange and suspiciously rational, but nonetheless. In many cases, the result of your work, even if it is described in two or three sentences, inspires further exploits. Let's not go far: I have a couple of projects that I have been working on for more than two years. In one of them, the practice of monthly results has long been adopted, in the second we adopted it several months ago. And this practice really helps to move forward.

Get a universal tool for capturing ideas

Irrationals are overwhelmed every second by a huge number of ideas, and if they are not recorded, chaos will reign in their heads. And this chaos is fraught with another dozen unfinished cases. Write down your ideas during the day, and in the evening (or once every few days, like me) sort them out and decide what can be implemented now, what needs to rest, and what looks wild, but over time... who knows. Where to record? The shape is not that important. I use an Evernote notebook, which I can sing its praises twenty-four hours a day, while others prefer to work with a pen and notebook.

Delegate tedious tasks

The basic principle high productivity- this is not doing a lot, but concentrating on the main thing, leaving aside the unimportant. An irrational person is productive only when he is engaged in things that are truly interesting to him. For example, layout of a website and compilation of endless tables are not about us. But there will always be a valiant rational nearby. Don't feed him bread - let him work on tedious tasks. The result is a win-win situation: you are happy, and the rational person happily digs into the tables.

Switch

Irrationals have the rare ability to instantly switch from task to task. If they, these tasks, are interesting to us. One of the main secrets of the irrational’s productivity is this: what more difference between the areas that you switch between, the more success you achieve in each of them, and the more satisfaction you experience. Sounds weird? Not at all... just irrational, that's all. Irrational people have many hobbies, ranging from scuba diving to cross-stitching. They also choose different jobs: today they write articles, tomorrow they lead business meeting, the day after tomorrow they give lectures. And - no. It's not because we're so fickle and creative. This is simply how we achieve more on all fronts.

Choose your team wisely

If you are a businessman, or you have a project that requires a team to work on, be serious about selecting people. Typically, irrational people are authoritarian, tough leaders. We keep our standards high and demand the same from others. And therefore, in your team there should be both irrational people who are able to climb sky-high heights behind you, and modest rational people who, firstly, will do tedious (for you - they enjoy it) work, and, secondly, they will slow you down in those moments when you are running forward too quickly.

WITH special attention care should be taken when choosing a candidate for the “post” of an employee for knocking out ideas. Idea knocking is a process in which you, in delirium generator mode, outline your next brilliant plan, and the employee listens to you, nods and from time to time inserts short remarks, directing the thought. Should he be rational? Preferred, but not required. The main thing is that he be patient enough (and irrational people can be unbearable during periods of bouncing around ideas...), stress-resistant (what if there are a lot of ideas, but in a short period of time?..) and friendly.

Slow down

Anyone who has “caught” a flow at least once in their life knows that it is inevitably followed by a rollback, that very state of a lazy vegetable, when emotions are at zero and you are watching cartoons. They are irrational with the flow on a first-name basis, but this does not mean that they know how to handle it. If we are rushing, then we are rushing! We will work for at least two days without sleep or rest. What happens next? Then we spend four days (and this is at best) paying for our exploits. This rhythm of life is the usual reality of the irrational, his everyday life. If you live from stream to stream, and the rollback does not bother you, so be it. Well, what if it’s annoying? Is it possible to deal with it? Can. To do this, you need to practice artificial deceleration. Ideally, after each flow, get out of it a little earlier than the state of “fell out exhausted,” and switch to quiet, calm activities. For example, read a book, watch a good movie, or just take a nap. And once a week - not necessarily on the weekend, if you have a free schedule, then it’s better to do it on Wednesday or Thursday - slow down for the whole day. Or at least twelve hours. You can lie in bed or, on the contrary, do something active, for example, go hiking. It all depends on your desire.

Here are my goals for 2015...

People set goals. Irrationals are people too. There is only one problem: we get bored with goals within a month at most. A great opportunity to unleash all the dogs on yourself, isn't it? But let's hold off on the dogs. The fact is that goals - which are clear, positively formulated, achievable, and so on - are not entirely about irrational people. More precisely, not about them at all. That’s true, but what should I do if at the beginning of January I wanted to learn to play the guitar, in mid-March I changed my mind and switched to playing the flute, and in early April I decided to learn the cello? What to do in such situations? Don't set goals at all, or what? Can an irrational person force himself to do something regularly, day after day, year after year? No. An irrational person generally does not know how to force himself. And he doesn’t want to learn it.

The problem can be solved simply: do not set long-term goals if you know that in a month they will lose relevance. Our strength is our ability to work under deadlines. A plan for a month, for a year, for five years is rational and boring; we are used to judging projects in one breath. Are you planning to write a book? Sit down and write until you get results. Give yourself a deadline—for example, two months. This will work better than “I plan to write a book in 2015.” The same can be said about other things. Your goals are what is “burning” at the moment. Did you wake up in the morning and decide to write a series of articles on the topic of personal effectiveness? Great, that's your goal. Deadline is a week. Forward! And the system “you need to set goals for a year, five and ten years in advance” is simply a system, one of many. And we are not suitable for systems...

Don't try to change yourself!

I know, I want to. And sometimes I want it too. But no. We will never become rational. We were, are and will be idiots. We will always have a lot of “tails” on projects, we will always act eccentrically, dye our hair strange colors, dress differently from everyone else, we will do a week’s work in one day, we will miss deadlines if this work has ceased to inspire us. We will never be able to squeeze ours in brilliant ideas to the planner. Our daily routine will last for a maximum of a month. People around us will always tell us how lazy we are, claim that we will achieve nothing in life with such an approach and persuade us to “pull ourselves together already.”

So let them persuade, right? We all know: a truly happy person, satisfied with his life, does not try to change others. We are different, and that's cool. Go to the mirror, smile and say with a proud look: “Yes, I’m a goof! And I like it! And so be it.

Do you recognize yourself in the description? What useful things did you learn from the advice? Share the tricks that make your irrational life easier! Of course, there will also be an article about rationality.

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As we finish analyzing the concept of self-discipline, let's first summarize what we know about thinking habits. This knowledge will be useful to you if you want to learn to think rationally.

1. Every thought strives for realization. And here it doesn’t matter at all what kind of thought this is - positive or negative, selfish or selfless, etc. Any thought goes through the following path:

thought-» target-» plan-» action.

Then, with the help of the universal law of habits, our thoughts themselves become habits. And only then the subconscious comes into action, which leads the thought to its logical conclusion - to its implementation.

Of course, we cannot talk about the materiality of such a concept as “thought,” but we can talk about the materiality of those objects and phenomena that appear as a result of the action of this thought.

In this case, we can assume that a person is a materialization of the thought of the Eternal Mind and that the thinking process is the emission of some rays invisible to the human eye that seek their realization in the material world.

And our thought is constantly at work, it is full of strength and energy, which is transmitted to it from the Eternal Mind.

2. Self-discipline will allow you to become a leader.

master of your thoughts, create them yourself, control them and direct them to achieve your own life goals. This cannot be done without certain habits that you will have to form if you want to receive the twelve treasures of life.

3. Enormous potential lies in strength. human thought, which does a huge amount of work. Firstly, it tirelessly monitors every cell of our body: it controls the replacement of old cells and the growth of new ones. Secondly, it monitors the functioning of all organs. Thirdly, it gives the body a command to resist all kinds of diseases. We can list endlessly everything that occupies our thoughts. She does much of this automatically. And if you make some specific efforts, then some other processes can be controlled automatically by thought.

4. Thought underlies all human achievements. Following the path already known to us (thought - "specifically formulated goal -" specific plan for achieving the goal - "actions in accordance with the plan), the thought becomes real, materially expressed. There are no actions without reasons and motives.

5. Our psyche consists of two large sections. The first is the conscious part, the second is the subconscious.

We can control our consciousness ourselves, but the subconscious controls the source of the Eternal Mind. The subconscious, as it were, connects our consciousness with the Eternal Mind.

The sixth sense is most closely connected with our subconscious. It operates independently of a person’s will, but with the help of self-discipline, each of us can influence the sixth sense through our consciousness.

6. All departments of the psyche - both conscious and subconscious - are directly dependent on our habits. By developing certain skills, abilities and habits, we thereby adapt our psyche to them.

7. If any of your thoughts are based on subjective opinion, then she is not quite versh. If the thought is based on a thorough study of the facts, then it is correct.

Imagine how incorrect and false thoughts based on fear, prejudice, uncertainty, and emotional arousal will be. Any thought that lacks rationality can be considered incorrect or deceptive.

8. To take your first step towards mastering rational thinking, you must first accustom

yourself to self-discipline. This will help you feel the difference between facts and gossip, fiction and rumors.

The second step requires you to be able to sort facts into important and unimportant. An important fact is considered to be one that can significantly help you on your path to achieving the twelve treasures of life. The rest can rightfully be considered not so significant.

Quite often in our lives we use information obtained from not very reliable sources, or operate with unimportant facts. This explains the fact that rarely does anyone manage to achieve the level of self-discipline that allows a person to do correct analysis information received from the surrounding world.

9. If your desires are specifically formulated and based on serious reasons, then they will stimulate the thinking process and will definitely lead to success.

When your thoughts are constantly occupied with your desires, then the subconscious immediately comes into play. It is this that is the main adviser in choosing the right decisions.

If you really want something, then this desire will make your imagination work, which knows and can find the shortest path and the best means to fulfill this desire.

We have outlined the most important facts relating to habits of rational thinking. But even from such a small amount of information it is very clear that without self-discipline it is not possible to achieve rational thinking. You, of course, have the right to ask where you should begin to cultivate the habit of self-discipline.

The first step is to concentrate all your thoughts on the main life goal. Without this step, it is impossible to achieve anything, let alone self-discipline.

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