Do you consider yourself a rational thinker, or are your decisions often based on emotions? The balance of the two can make a difference in your success. How can you tell which mode of thinking you use? Since your brain has a right and a left hemisphere, it makes sense that people can be rational and emotional. Medical experts say that your right brain focuses on emotions and creativity. Conversely, your left brain controls reasoning and other logical skills.
Twelve Habits of a Rational Thinker
Although humans use both sides, most people have a more dominant brain sphere. Are you the calm voice of reason, or does your heart rule your head? These are 12 habits to notice if you’re a rational thinker or a left-brain dominant.
1. A Rational Thinker Will Pay Attention to Detail
If you’re a rational thinker, you don’t rush through tasks and decisions. You have a distinct eye for each detail and how everything works together. Seeing the individual pieces may take a while before you can envision the whole picture.
For this reason, people often turn to you for the most complex projects, especially at work. They know that you’ll take the task seriously and won’t do anything but your best. This habit becomes a liability if it turns into perfectionism, and you’re left to spin out of control.
2. Logical People Clarify Your Ideas
Ideas are like seeds you plant, water, and care for until they grow into thriving plants. Even the best ideas need revision for optimal success. Logical thinkers can blend reasoning and emotions to clarify their ideas for themselves and others.
Let’s say that you have a unique idea for a business. You do research, and you talk to successful entrepreneurs. You create a business plan that will explain your idea to potential investors.
3. Logical People Get the Facts Straight
Remember the classic detective show where the agent always said, “just the facts?” Rational thinkers like you aren’t satisfied with hearsay, surmising, or half-truths. You’ll work overtime researching facts and verifying them with reliable sources before you take a side.
Nothing makes you uncomfortable than being on the fence about a decision or action. Once you have the facts straight, you can better use your sense of logic, reasoning, and deduction. Such logical brain behavior would serve you well in mathematics, science, or education.
4. A Rational Thinker Has Excellent Communication Skills
It does no good if you’re the most intelligent person in the world if you don’t communicate well with others. Effective conversations involve two or more people sharing thoughts, ideas, and feelings. You can convey your thoughts skillfully and are also an active listener.
An active listener goes beyond just hearing what someone says. You purposely think about what they’re saying without interrupting. You use receptive body language and mirror their feelings.
Additionally, you pause for a few seconds before you respond. If there’s something you missed, you ask them to clarify it. There are fewer chances for misunderstandings and miscommunication. Logical thinking can’t be shared without solid communication skills.
5. Rational Thinkers Need to Know Why
Do you recall your parents telling you to do something, and you asked why? It was one of your first childhood steps toward independent thinking. Maybe your parents took the time to explain their reasoning to you.
Maybe they were like many parents who retorted, “Because I said so.” Of …
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