A practical critical thinking and decision-making kit from Bodhih Training: a 10-chapter e-book and ready-to-use tools for framing problems, finding root causes, checking AI output and making calls you can explain.
Think Clearly When Machines Think Fast · Bodhih Pro Kits · 15 by Bodhih Training, trainers to 2,000+ companies since 2008.
Use a repeatable routine: separate claims from evidence and assumptions, frame the real problem, find root causes, think in probabilities, score options against agreed criteria, run a pre-mortem and verify AI output against primary sources. Think Clearly When Machines Think Fast, a kit from Bodhih Training, gives you the method and the tools for each step.
Want the full free guide first? Read How to Improve Critical Thinking Skills at Work in the AI Era.
Assistants produce fluent, confident text in seconds. Without a quick way to check it, one blended clause or invented figure can end up in front of your director with your name on it.
'Run a course.' 'Hire faster.' 'Buy a tool.' You can do excellent work on the wrong problem and still be blamed when nothing improves.
The loudest argument wins, quiet doubts stay quiet, and the same decision comes back a fortnight later because nobody can see how it was made.
A stern email fixes things for two weeks. Then the same delays return, because the fix treated a symptom instead of the cause.
Without a record of what you predicted and how confident you were, you cannot tell skill from luck, and neither can your manager.
Imagine next Thursday afternoon. A summary lands from your AI assistant, and instead of pasting it straight into the deck, you open the AI Output Verification Checklist, pick out the four claims that matter and check them against the source documents. Three minutes later you know the one figure that was wrong. On Monday, when the director asks the sharp question, you already have the answer.
Picture the next request that arrives with a solution baked in. As you fill in the Problem Framing Canvas, you notice the real problem underneath, and you go back with a short note that saves your team a month of work on the wrong thing. People start to bring you problems earlier, because you help them see clearly.
Now think about the big decision on your desk. You agree the criteria before anyone argues about options, score them in the Decision Matrix, notice the gap between the numbers and everyone's gut, and run a 45-minute pre-mortem that surfaces the risk nobody wanted to say out loud. The decision takes two meetings instead of six, and it stays decided.
And six months from now, when you look back at your Decision Journal, you will see your own calibration score: where you are sharp, where you are overconfident, and how much better your calls have become. Whether you start with the workbook tonight or the canvas tomorrow morning, each tool you use makes the next decision a little easier.
The e-book shows you how. The tools make it happen. Here is exactly what you download.
The guide: methods, worked examples, scripts and exercises
Weighted decision matrix, pre-mortem risk register, assumption log, claim check log and a decision journal that scores how well calibrated your predictions are, with a live dashboard.
A two-page fillable canvas that strips the hidden solution out of a brief, climbs the problem ladder and produces three framings and a one-sentence problem statement.
Fillable worksheet that takes a recurring problem through a six-category fishbone, a 5 Whys chain with evidence, a causation sanity check and an action plan.
Fillable checklist that matches checking effort to the stakes, logs every checkable claim against a primary source and scans for the common AI failure patterns before anything is shared.
A facilitator's guide and capture sheets for a 45-minute pre-mortem: opening script, agenda, silent-writing capture, scoring table and an action plan for the top risks.
An editable Word template for writing up any significant decision on one page, plus a completed example to copy from.
Twelve tool-agnostic AI prompts for framing, testing and verifying, plus 22 exact phrases for asking for evidence, inviting dissent and challenging upwards without a fight.
A two-page cheat sheet of 25 common workplace biases, each with what it looks like, a question to ask and a practical counter-move.
A quick-reference card of 32 questions for clarifying claims, testing evidence, surfacing assumptions, checking AI output, deciding and learning.
Twenty-one 15-minute daily practice sessions that build each thinking habit from the book, importable into Google, Outlook or Apple Calendar.
The 25 biases with category, what they look like, a question to ask and a counter-move, ready to import into Notion, Airtable, a wiki or flashcards.
Each chapter opens with a real situation, gives you a method and ends with something to do today, using the tools in your kit.
Why judgement matters more than ever when answers are cheap, and how the kit's tools fit together.
Separate any statement into claim, evidence and assumptions, and find the weakest link in three minutes.
Eight biases that most often derail work decisions, and process changes that blunt them.
Strip the hidden solution out of a brief and frame the real problem before you start solving.
Use the 5 Whys and a fishbone to fix recurring problems at the system level.
Replace vague words with numbers, start from base rates and keep score of your forecasts.
Match effort to reversibility and use a weighted decision matrix with gut-check built in.
Run a 45-minute pre-mortem and keep an assumption log that tells you what to test first.
Verify AI output against primary sources and judge any source with lateral reading and SIFT.
Get the best from a group with independent views first, a rotating challenger and clear decision rights.
Write a one-page decision memo, keep a decision journal and review without judging by results alone.
Fast thinking most of the time, slow thinking at the few moments that matter.
Five ready-to-use AI prompts for steelmanning, pre-mortems and pressure-testing memos.
Every outcome is practised with a worked example and a tool, not just described.
People who measure before and after improve faster and can show it. AssessAll, our sister assessment platform, has AI-graded assessments that pair with this kit. Take one now, work through the kit, then re-take it.
This is the moment the pre-mortem was invented for. The psychologist Gary Klein described the pre-mortem in a short Harvard Business Review article in 2007. The idea flips the familiar post-mortem around. Instead of asking, after a project has failed, what went wrong, you ask the team at the start to imagine that it is a year from now and the project has failed completely. Then each person writes down why. That small shift in framing does something powerful. Asking "what could go wrong?" invites people to be cautious and polite. Asking "it has failed; why did it fail?" makes failure a given and turns raising problems into a contribution rather than a criticism. People who were sitting on doubts suddenly have permission, and even an obligation, to share them.
| Free templates and typical advice | This kit | |
|---|---|---|
| Approach | Generic advice to 'think critically' and 'avoid bias' | A step-by-step routine for each stage, from claim to decision to review |
| AI | Either hype or blanket distrust | A stakes-based verification method and prompts that keep you in charge |
| Tools | A blank decision matrix template | A linked workbook with dealbreakers, gut-gap flags, risk scoring, assumption priorities and calibration scoring |
| Examples | Abstract puzzles and textbook cases | Workplace scenes from Pune, Lagos, Leeds, Manila, Nairobi, Dubai and Melbourne |
| Group decisions | 'Encourage everyone to speak up' | Independent-first method, opening scripts and exact phrases for inviting dissent |
| Learning | Judge decisions by how they turned out | A decision journal that separates process from outcome and shows your overconfidence |
Bodhih Training has designed and delivered corporate programmes since 2008. Bodhih Pro Kits package what works in those workshops into a guide plus the exact tools we use, so you can apply it the same day without a facilitator in the room.
Name, email and country. UPI, card or netbanking in India; international cards everywhere else. No account to create.
Your download page opens at once, with every file and a one-click ZIP. A permanent link lands in your inbox too.
Start with the quick-start chapter, then the main spreadsheet or planner. Most buyers use something from the kit the same day.
Answers are cheap now. Clear thinking is not. Download the kit, open the Decision Toolkit on your next real decision and notice how much more confident your recommendation feels, whether you start with the pre-mortem this week or the verification checklist this afternoon.
Personal licence for the buyer's own use (and use with your own team or clients where the kit says so). Please don't share or resell the files. Team and company licences: solutions@bodhih.com.
Prompts, workflows and guardrails for every professional.
Role-based Applied AI certifications.
250+ AI-graded assessments to measure skills and earn verified credentials.
Individual development plans that start from evidence and stay yours.
Run this topic as a live workshop for your team, in person or online.
Book a vetted coach for career, leadership or communication. Pay per session.
Certification pathways in Applied AI, Workplace English and management.
It is the habit of slowing a statement or decision down long enough to see its parts: what is being claimed, what evidence supports it and what has to be true for it to hold. At work it shows up as better questions, clearer problem framing and decisions you can explain. The kit turns it into a routine you can repeat.
Match the effort to the stakes. Pull out every specific claim (numbers, names, dates, quotes, citations), verify the important ones against primary sources, and never ask the same AI to confirm its own answer. The AI Output Verification Checklist and Claim Check sheet walk you through it.
For decisions that are hard to reverse, agree weighted criteria before looking at options, score each option independently, mark any dealbreakers and compare the result with your gut. The Decision Toolkit workbook does the arithmetic and flags big gaps between the score and everyone's instinct.
A pre-mortem, described by psychologist Gary Klein, asks the team to imagine a plan has already failed and write down why. It surfaces risks people would not otherwise raise. The Pre-Mortem Session Guide gives you a script, a 45-minute agenda and capture sheets.
Both. The workbook uses standard formulas with no macros, so it works in Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets. The worksheets are fillable PDFs that work in Acrobat Reader, most browsers and apps like GoodNotes, and the templates open in Word or Google Docs.
Yes, the methods are designed for group decisions as well as individual ones, and you can use the tools with your own team. The licence is personal, so please contact solutions@bodhih.com for a team or company licence if several people need their own copies.
If you want a baseline before you start, AssessAll offers the Critical Thinking & Problem Solving, Critical Reasoning & Argument Evaluation and Misinformation & Media Literacy assessments. Take one now and again after a few months of using the kit to see what has changed.
Pick two or three habits from the book, attach them to real decisions and review progress monthly. If you want a structured plan built on assessment evidence, Jobulary helps you turn results into a measured growth plan that stays with you.
It gives you practical habits for it: lateral reading, the SIFT routine (stop, investigate the source, find better coverage, trace to the original) and a checklist to run before you forward or present anything. These work for news, vendor claims and workplace rumours alike.
Because this is a digital kit, it is non-refundable once downloaded. If a file is corrupted and we cannot fix it within 3 working days, you are charged twice, or delivery fails, contact us and we will put it right.
₹499 including 18% GST for buyers in India, or $15 for buyers outside India. One-time payment, no subscription, with an automatic invoice.
Instantly. Your download page opens the moment payment succeeds, and a permanent download link is emailed to you. Download each file separately or everything in one ZIP.
Any of the usual tools: Excel or Google Sheets for spreadsheets, Word or Google Docs for templates, Adobe Acrobat Reader, Preview, Xodo or GoodNotes for the fillable PDFs, and Google, Outlook or Apple Calendar for the calendar plan.
Yes. Team and company licences, and workshops on this topic run by Bodhih Training, are available. Write to solutions@bodhih.com or call +91 99000 11601.
