Critical Thinking & Problem Solving Brilliance

Course Curriculum

Chapter 1: Introduction and welcome

Lecture 1: Introduction and warm welcome to this critical thinking course

Chapter 2: Problem solving

Lecture 1: One: Do you have to pursue the problem?

Lecture 2: Managing Dopamine, Adrenaline, and reversing procrastination for problem-solving

Lecture 3: The right growth mindsets for better problem solving

Lecture 4: Two and a half: patterns, blueprints, and research

Lecture 5: Tips for working better and more efficiently

Lecture 6: Starting to work out the solution with pseudocode

Lecture 7: Pseudocode writing exercise

Lecture 8: Pseudocode exercise – answer

Lecture 9: Engineering tradeoffs and working with imperfect solutions

Lecture 10: Getting feedback on your problem solving pseudocode to strengthen it

Lecture 11: Finishing your problem solving through refined pseudocode and small steps

Lecture 12: Managing your stress level to aid your problem solving

Lecture 13: Five: Confidence for problem solving

Lecture 14: Step six: Your physical state, diet, sleep, rest, exercise

Lecture 15: Aim for best-in-class solution quality

Chapter 3: Practicing correctly understanding problems

Lecture 1: Solving a major problem – misreading and misunderstanding the problems

Lecture 2: EXERCISE: correctly understanding the problem

Lecture 3: EXERCISE ANSWER: correctly understanding the problem

Lecture 4: EXERCISE: the stamp problem

Lecture 5: EXERCISE ANSWER: the stamp problem

Lecture 6: EXERCISE: coin math problem

Lecture 7: EXERCISE ANSWER: coin math problem

Lecture 8: EXERCISE: Manuscript problem

Lecture 9: EXERCISE ANSWER: Manuscript problem

Chapter 4: Root cause analysis

Lecture 1: Root cause analysis section introduction

Lecture 2: The steps of performing root cause analysis

Chapter 5: Critical thinking

Lecture 1: What is critical thinking

Chapter 6: Logic and logical fallacies to aid your critical thinking

Lecture 1: Introduction to this section on logic and logical fallacies, and reasoning

Lecture 2: The Socratic Method of the world

Lecture 3: Inductive and deductive reasoning

Lecture 4: Ampliative reasoning

Lecture 5: Ad Hominem

Lecture 6: How to treat others with opposing point of view

Lecture 7: Surrounding yourself with similars

Lecture 8: The twisted argument

Lecture 9: Irrelevant argument

Lecture 10: Argument from lack of knowledge

Lecture 11: Case studies can be misleading

Lecture 12: Statistics vs. case studies

Lecture 13: Blindly trusting old assumptions

Lecture 14: Correlation does not imply causation

Lecture 15: Wishful thinking that feels good, but isn't backed by sound reasoning

Lecture 16: Being uncomfortable with having negative thoughts and ideas

Lecture 17: Slippery slope fallacy and dealing with the anxiety it causes

Lecture 18: Non-confrontation and giving into bullies and threat of anger

Chapter 7: Creativity to help your problem solving

Lecture 1: Creative problem solving – section introduction

Lecture 2: How to be more creative

Lecture 3: Another way of looking at creativity & the path to breakthroughs

Lecture 4: Nine dot puzzle exercise and challenge to think creatively

Lecture 5: Nine dot puzzle answer

Lecture 6: Exercise: Answer the same question in many ways

Lecture 7: Exercise: What can you do with a random item?

Lecture 8: Brain hack to come up with creative solutions

Chapter 8: Decision-making

Lecture 1: Introduction to decision-making

Lecture 2: Covey's time management matrix from 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

Lecture 3: Biology of decision-making, moods, and impulsiveness

Chapter 9: Class project: the problem solving for your own prioritization

Lecture 1: Section introduction: problem-solving for prioritization

Lecture 2: Business and professional focus prioritization strategy

Lecture 3: More discipline as you have less time

Lecture 4: Many-goals exercise

Lecture 5: Many-goals exercise – answer one

Lecture 6: Many-goals exercise – answer two

Chapter 10: Healthy mindsets for problem solving

Lecture 1: Section introduction – healthy and growth mindsets for problem-solving

Lecture 2: Definition of mindsets

Lecture 3: Dr. Carol Dweck's research on growth mindsets vs. fixed mindsets

Lecture 4: Introduction to the Placebo Effect and its relationship to mindsets

Lecture 5: The Nocebo Effect and its relationship to mindsets

Lecture 6: Study of stressed finance employees, and the impact of different mindsets

Lecture 7: The discouragement Nocebo

Lecture 8: Example of a correct stress response by using growth and other mindsets

Lecture 9: How to create self-perpetuating mindsets that improve your life more and more

Chapter 11: Building confidence for problem-solving

Lecture 1: Confidence for problem solving – section introduction

Lecture 2: Definitions of confidence, self-confidence, and self-esteem

Lecture 3: Summarizing definitions of confidence, self-confidence, and self-esteem

Lecture 4: Immediately change confidence with body language – in seconds

Lecture 5: Practicing & improving at a small element at the root of low confidence

Lecture 6: Listen to internal conversations: Are you boosting or lowering your confidence?

Lecture 7: Fear of failure or criticism and how it impacts your confidence

Lecture 8: Fear and anger, how our brain works, and how it impacts confidence

Lecture 9: Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers example of how ability creates confidence

Lecture 10: Visualizations to boost performance and confidence

Lecture 11: From Tony Robbins: 4 ingredients to achievement and eventual confidence

Chapter 12: Maintaining a strong focus and getting rid of distractions

Lecture 1: Section introduction on why eliminating distractions is so important to focus

Lecture 2: Eliminating interruptions when someone wants to chat

Lecture 3: Learning to say NOOOOOO is productive

Lecture 4: A technique to improve your focus and attention

Lecture 5: Physiological and environmental factors that impact focus and concentration