Figure Out Where to Go from Here

You have now been introduced to twenty-four simple but powerful ideas.
If you are to continue to develop, however, you should decide where you will
go from here. Many strategies can help improve the quality of your life. One
thing is certain: If you don’t take a next step, there will be no next step. Like
a rubber band that has been stretched, you will return to your original habits,
into patterns of action based on beliefs you have unconsciously absorbed but
did not mindfully select.
Remember that the mind is free only to the extent that it is in command
of itself. In other words, your mind controls you—your thoughts, your
emotions, your desires, your behavior. But do you control your mind? When
you take command of your mind, you decide, using skills of rational thought,
what ideas to accept and what to reject, what ideas to take seriously and what
to ignore. You recognize the mind’s natural desire toward selfishness, and you
intervene with fair-minded thinking and behavior. You recognize the mind’s
natural tendency to be rigid and close-minded. You therefore intervene
to open your mind to other ways of looking at things. You recognize the
mind’s natural tendency to go along with group ideology, and so you closely
examine your own behavior in groups to identify when and where you tend
to mindlessly conform.
You will be in command of your mind only to the extent that you
develop and continually redevelop plans for further growth. Otherwise,
the egocentric and sociocentric tendencies of your mind (as with all of us)
will pull you back to your comfort zone. They will keep you trapped in the
ideology and mental habits you have developed unconsciously, in ideas that
need questioning. But the only way you will be able to accurately assess the
ideas that guide your behavior is through intellectual discipline and skills you
develop in your mind through your mind, consciously and deliberately.
So develop your plan for moving forward. Develop it today; revisit it
every day.

Strategies for taking the next steps toward

development:
1. Explore other critical thinking resources, including those in the
book Critical Thinking: Tools for Taking Charge of Your Professional
and Personal Life,11 as well as the Thinker’s Guide Library. (Visit
www.criticalthinking.org to read about these guides, as well as
other books and materials.)
2. Commit yourself to learning and applying one new and important
idea every day (or every week).
3. Continue to explore the ideas in this book, keeping a log of your
refl ections.
4. Set aside a certain time each day for self- development. Make sure
it is a time of peace and quiet. Realize that if you aren’t willing to
designate time for your mind to grow, you aren’t really committed
to your personal development.