I’m only 23 and I feel that my critical thinking has gradually declined over the last few years...and it’s concerning me quite a bit.
Has anyone else experienced this? Should I consult a doctor?

likefunnyhelpful
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Same thing has been happening to me and tried to do some research about the subject. I have found this book to be quite helpful and been trying to apply everything there with good results

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likehelpfulsmart

I’ve had that as well. Take some time off your phone and take time reading books instead of short articles

likehelpful

For context, my performance at work has been good, yet I feel that my previously ‘natural’ ability to think out of the box, generate insights from grey areas, etc have gotten worse since UG. I have trouble concentrating on one thing for too much time before I want to jump to the next thing...it’s frustrating

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I'm 24 and feel the same way too! I think it's largely because I'm sleep deprived a lot

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26 here, hit my lowpoint last year but now I’ve bounced back after taking a break and focusing on fitness, healthy eating, adderall, and personal hygiene. Had a super productive day today!

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This is the most honest vulnerable comment I’ve ever seen. I’m proud of you haha

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Sleep more, reduce screen time, eat healthy and workout regularly at low intensity, if your are not doing this already.

Reading slowly helps me, personally. I also picked up Chess and Go which gave me something to think about on my downtime by replaying matches in my head.

That being said, your though process is going to change as you grow older. 23-24 is right around where your fluid intelligence start to dwindle, and you have to rely on your crystallize intelligence more. So hopefully you took advantage of your “sponge” years.

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How was that btw

funny

Yup part of being the grunt on the team is you train your brain to do the grunt work and it’s got less space to think outside the box

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I recommend you take time and literally just lay in bed like a vegetable sans phone... create space for your brain to recover, get bored, and then finally start thinking with imagination again to cure that boredom

These days try and go for some long walks without your phone too

It's consulting. I covered the same recently. I'm 10 years in. Kudos to you for being self aware and catching it early

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It’s because most of consulting is low skill work in high cost clothing. College is challenging. It makes you think different. Consulting is following the “playbook” that someone came up with years ago that may/may not be relevant to today’s business problems.

Don’t take drugs to solve this, find more meaningful work

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Drugs like Adderall? I might be too late ..

I’m 36 and I’ve aghdjic djjcycyw shhdyw uysbo

likefunny

I think attention problems are real for sure but I don’t think comparisons to undergrad are valid. In undergrad 1) there is a ton more scope of subject matter and fewer reality constraints to generate “insights” from... bigger playing field = easier, 2) in school partly you’re rewarded for your thought process, which nobody at work gives a shit about, and 3) you get a rush in school from generating new to YOU insights, and maybe new to your equal in age and life experience peers. Again not applicable in consulting. And Id wonder how many were really new to your professors, vs them being happy seeing you making connections.

It’s rare to have a really new insight. I don’t mean this to beat you up, more just to relax a bit about that. In any case I don’t think anyone has ever regretted improving their attention span, so definitely carry on per other posters in that.

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Just turned 24 and feel the same way. This week especially today was so hard to be productive and concentrate on matters outside of project work and it’s been getting to me. I feel “slower” and chose consulting as a career path to keep my mind/critical thinking ability sharp and haven’t been feeling that it will actually do that. Words done come to me as quickly and I struggle to articulate as well as I could before, it’s definitely challenging

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I felt the same way and then started an online masters program. It’s extra work outside of the job but I feel like it keeps me sharp and keeps the intellectual part of my brain working when work just isn’t engaging that. If you can’t afford a masters either money-wise or time-wise, there are a lot of really cool and interesting online classes on sites like coursera or edx. I personally like doing classes that aren’t at all related to my job so I can really get out of work mode.

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Sounds like the classic freshish out of college slump. When you go from school to work it’s a different kind of thinking. It’s just you hitting the learning curve. Most of us here hit and if most of us are still working it means that we adapted, got our skills up, and succeeded. I’m sure you will too. Just keep yourself reading both fiction and nonfiction to borrow other peoples brains to get back to speed

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I’m also 23 and can relate to everything you’ve said

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It only gets worse... 36 here and struggle every day. I was sharp and on fire in my career from 18-26 and then dwindled. 32-34 was when it got real bad.

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It’s called not caring anymore. Got there at 20

This is normal. As those skills decline others will improve - you get better at spotting patterns, applying what you've learned before, and your soft skills around presenting, client relationship, etc. get better

It keeps getting worse. I’m 51 and would know. As you age, your brain simply does not have the same processing speed as when you came out of college, BUT you gain experience and pattern recognition over the course of your career which do prove very valuable. All in all, ~35 years old is probably the aggregate peak in total performance.

Just wait: I am 53 and I can’t perform simple motor functions without the assistance of Jack Daniels.

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