How can ordinary people improve their logical ability through writing?

Want to improve your writing logic? This article shares practical tips and methods to help you solve logical problems when writing. It is especially suitable for writing enthusiasts and those who want to improve their expression skills. I hope these contents can help you!

In the process of meeting so many people, I am often asked: I feel that I have learned a lot of writing skills, but I always get stuck when I start writing, and stare at the blank document. What should I do if I get stuck when writing articles or proposals?

Looking back on my own experience, I actually found that I was able to produce content smoothly simply because I had accumulated too many ideas in my mind. Just when they were about to overflow, the article was written in one go according to the framework in my mind.

Then why can’t I write it normally?

The first reason is that I have nothing to write about.

I find that writer's block always occurs when I haven't read for a long time, haven't talked to people, and haven't done anything to accumulate experience. At this time, you can't write if you just hold it in. Without material, it's like water without a source, or a forest without trees.

The second reason is poor logical ability.

Even if I find a bunch of writing materials, I still don’t know what logic to use to arrange them in a clear structure and hierarchical way, and I always feel that I can’t convince readers.

Writing skills can be improved in the short term, but logical ability in writing requires long-term practice.

Today's article will talk about how ordinary people can improve their logical abilities through writing?

1. Describe things and “evaluate” them

Let’s think about this question first. What is the core of an article that can influence others?

It is a unique and profound point of view. Where does the point of view come from? It comes from your thoughts on things.

To form your own ideas, you need to be in a state where you can talk about everything you hear and see.

If you want to get into the state of "having ideas", you can start with "evaluation".

It is easy for us to evaluate something, such as ordering takeout, buying something, or writing a movie review. Or when you read a passage, you can try to evaluate it, such as why you think it is good and what is good about it.

When you have accumulated enough reviews, you will find that you have a perspective and have accumulated materials. Under the same topic, you can already express it with some simple descriptions, which, after logical arrangement, is the smallest unit of an article output.

How to make an accurate evaluation?

We need to find factual information + personal opinions, that is, to describe the object and understand the characteristics, features, and features of the object to refine the information, and then derive our opinions on this basis.

It is also important to note that it is an evaluation rather than an opinion. For example, words like "I like", "I hate", "I don't like" may not mean much to others. If the entire comment is considered to be 10 points, the summary of the object being described is 6-8 points, and your own thoughts account for 2 points.

Even if you have learned how to write reviews, if you still find writing difficult, then move on to the second stage.

2. Compare things

When we face a thing directly, many people may not have too many ideas of their own. But when we compare two things together, it is easy for us to compare from different angles, and it is relatively easier to come up with our own ideas. Therefore, "comparing" things is a very good way to exercise thinking.

There are three different methods based on comparison, namely "finding differences between similar things", "decomposing and then comparing", and "finding similarities between different things".

By practicing these three methods, you can improve your logical expression ability to a certain extent.

3. Proficient application of "concepts"

A large part of "thinking ability" is related to the ability to skillfully apply "concepts".

Concepts are the basic units for storing information in our brains. In essence, they are a psychological representation of external things, and are the distillation, induction, and abstraction of the essential characteristics of things.

Concepts can contain a lot of information. Being proficient in using concepts means that you can use them to save cognitive resources. The more you save, the faster you think, and the larger and more meticulous the net you can spread when writing. Therefore, you should accumulate some understanding of concepts in your daily life so that you can be relaxed enough when writing.

Improve your mental endurance

Some people make us feel amazing because their thinking endurance is much stronger than ours. For example, you become irritated after reading a book for 15 minutes, while others can read with peace of mind for an hour. The difference between the two lies in their thinking "endurance".

People who are used to reading are more adaptable to thinking than those who read occasionally, and people who exercise regularly are more adaptable to long-distance running than those who do not exercise. So I said before that reading content with a threshold can make you stronger.

Our brains are formatted by fragmented information. We have difficulty reading anything longer. Besides this, you will find it difficult to describe something systematically. So the only way to resist this is to improve the endurance of your thoughts. In addition to reading, you can also write long articles.

4. Use the model to draw conclusions

At this stage, through the previous practice, we can already sort out our views in a more organized and logical manner. When we encounter some complex things, we still feel difficulties. At this time, we must learn to use models and frameworks to speed up our decision-making.

For example, when someone comes to me for advice, what I usually do is to sort out multiple options based on the key information they provide, and analyze the best and worst results for each option. If the worst result is bearable, then there is nothing to be afraid of. Only by facing the problem head-on can it be solved.

After listing them, I usually clear his doubts, propose strategies to solve the problems, and give the expected solutions, and finally let him make his own choice. This is to use the analysis of good and bad factors to help you make decisions, and you can also use the expected value model to be more detailed.

The more frameworks we store in our brains and the more proficient we are in applying them, the more reliable and precise our decisions will be, and logical fallacies will be less likely to occur.

Thinking is divided into fast thinking and slow thinking, corresponding to intuition and rationality. The former requires you to be involved in things, take responsibility for things, and make decisions in various decision-making scenarios, while the latter is the conclusion drawn from rational analysis.

In practice, we are easily trapped by the problem itself. The problem itself is a frame, and sometimes the solution is outside the frame of the problem. Therefore, we also need to increase the expected situations and find or create new model frameworks to solve the problem.

I think writing is the best way to improve my logical ability. Do you think so too?

Author: Zhizhong

Source: WeChat public account "Shixian Operation (ID: yyshixian)"