Science writer, Rhodes scholar and two-time author Jonah Lehrer write about strange ways have come up with unconventional ways to improve your mind, and help think logically and critically. I thought they might be of some help for us new critical thinkers :

1. Tap your emotions - don't avoid what they tell you, but listen and act accordingly where possible. These feelings are coming from someplace, brought on by facts outside of your conscious awareness.

2. Trust your instincts - once you've developed a skill, the time invested has given you reliable instincts, so instincts to can often be trusted.

3. Consider alternatives - the brain naturally filters the world to confirm what it believes, stop and consider just the opposite.

4. Know what you like - don't be fooled by price tags or popularity, decide for yourself what's for you, and what isn't.

5. Take long showers - research shows that insight always arrives at the precise moment you're not attending to the problem, most likely because our minds tune in better when free of stress.

6. Suspect your memory - the act of recalling an event changes the structure of the event, so the more you think about it, the less accurate your recollection can become.

7. Don't overdo - the prefrontal cortex, responsible for willpower and thinking is easily depleted according to studies. You can do lots of things, just not all at the very same time. So, multitasking is not effective.

8. Learn from mistakes - successful people pay attention to their fumbles, as well as constantly looking for what they could improve upon - vital to learning.

9. Daydream - this is an incredibly important tool for creativity, causing a rush of action in an area known as the default network that allows the mind to make new associations. Daydreaming actually puts your brain into overdrive.

10. Think about thinking - introspection may well be the key to good judgment, at least the equal of intelligence and experience.