Thinking about Thinking (too much): Critical versus Over Thinking

During a recent masterclass I attended on critical thinking, as part of a virtual internship for third-year quantitative students, one of the interns asked this question in the chat: “What is the difference between thinking critically and overthinking?” As someone who identifies personally as an overthinker, I thought it would be interesting to explore how we think about these two ways of thinking. What do we really mean by them, and how do they impact us as we navigate a world that is increasingly driven by (mis)information, data, and knowledge work?

Stay “Soft”: Openness and vulnerability in the service of lifelong learning

My reflections on the value of staying open and vulnerable in order to stay flexible and adaptable - in short, to be a lifelong learner. This was inspired by participating in a virtual internship for a group of just under 200 South African third-year university students in the quantitative fields, which introduced them to careers in financial services but also to the Four C's of 21st Century Learning.

Saving People’s Sanity, One Basic Query at a Time

I know that the stereotype of the IT team spending most of their time answering the phone with “Have you tried turning it off and on again?” must be based at least loosely on reality (and of course I know they made a series around it). I know it must also be a genuine pain when responding to the same basic and often dumbfounding queries takes up most of one’s working life. But for what it’s worth, I would like to point out that, besides helping people fix problems that they might often be able to sort out themselves, support staff are adding potentially much more value to their clients’ lives.

On virtues

My mother used to quote this poem (which I only recently Googled to discover that it was penned by the same man who gave us The Sheep Pig): “Patience is a virtue, Virtue is a grace, Grace is a little girl who wouldn’t wash her face.” - Dick King Smith If there isn’t some cynicism around virtues themselves, I believe there is certainly cynicism around aspiring towards them. Where does this come from? What is the value of virtues? And is there value in contemplating qualities that might seem lofty and vague at best, and therefore unattainable or meaningless at worst?

Real Part 3: The Blind Rise

In Real: Part 2, I spoke about how our experience can shape our consciousness, specifically our awareness and understanding of others. I considered how privilege can make us blind to others’ perspectives and other people’s ways of being in the world. In this post, I ask the question: Once we’ve recognised this – once we’re confronted with the (usually severe) limitations of our own perspectives – what then? How do we show up nonetheless? How do we embark courageously on a journey of “filling in the picture”, of updating our maps, knowing that not only have we been blind and somewhat stupid up until this point, but also we will necessarily get it wrong and cause further hurt along the way? Finally, I explore what showing up means in terms of how we engage with reality.

Real (Part 2): The reality of perspectives and privilege

How much of the world is real to you? How big is the “real estate” in your mind? To me, one major aspect of reality awareness is recognising different subjective realities. In other words, I am moving from knowing the self to knowing and understanding others.

Real (Part 1)

What makes us “real”? I’m not talking about knowing whether or not we exist, whether we are live flesh and blood, or even whether we are conscious, but rather about what makes us real “in context” - and, more importantly, "in relation". In Margery Williams's The Velveteen Rabbit, the Skin Horse tells the Rabbit that we become Real by being loved. Are we not also seen into realness?

The Power of the Third Person

In a webinar I attended once on the value of presence, the presenters shared a metaphor for being mindful of your own thoughts: "Engage your third person". In storytelling, the third person is used as a form of narration that is outside of the action. Can we play third person or “third party” to the action in our own minds? Are we able to play not just the role of mediator, but also of witness? And when would this be useful?