Deduction Exercise 1: Connecting The Dots

9, November, 2023

Rated: ⭐⭐⚝

Background

We all know that being great at deduction, we need to have a great amount of knowledge. Ranging from science such as how blood scatters to social and culture such as how pointing can be offensive.

Remembering as much as possible can be a great way to be good, but what often gets overlooked is the ability to connect all those information. Fluently, effortlessly come across everything you know, compare to clues you’ve observed, and once more, compare to what someone else might have known.

Level 1

The exercise that I’m proposing here is taking a topic, word, object, anything; knowledge check with everything that you’ve known.

For example, let’s say I pick the color black. Then I would sit down and thing what is associated with black? The dress code of funeral, the most heat absorbed color, goth, symbol of death, nothingness, mystery, classy, etc. You get the idea.

The famous example from Sherlock Holmes is the clue: “Rache”. Depends on which Sherlock Holmes are you talking about, it could either means Rachel or “revenge” in Germans.

Level 2

Next, you would want to increase your mental capacity, how fast your brain runs through these information. But at the same time, you don’t want to sacrifice thoroughness with speed. Speed is the bonus here.

Time yourself, try to do this exercise in 30 seconds. Then spend the next 2 mins to dig deep into your mind to see what you know but miss during the previous 30 secs.

Your mind will get bored in this 2 mins, but hang in there, take boredom with open arms. Creativity is either the result of reflection or boredom.

Level 2.5 would be go on google and learn more about what your topic.

Level 3

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

Lastly, the ability to walk in other people shoes, understand others’ perspective is advanced. This level 3 is for experienced deductionists.

After the 3 mins of previous exercise, think of someone, and ask yourself would this person know these, and what’s this person’s past experience might have given them an unique understanding of such topic.

Let’s say your grandad was in the army, he might know more about guns and government work more than you do.

For this exercise, pick someone close to you that you know their past experiences would be a good idea. It’s easier to walk in their shoes and confirm your theories as you talk to them.

Level 4

As you know, the people that a detective deals with are not always the people that he knows. So for the next step of the exercise, talk to someone new and find out their background. After you’ve done the previous exercise in level 3, this time put yourself in this new person’s shoes based on what you’ve found out in the previous conversation.

This exercise is difficult, not only it requires social IQ, but also you need to be sharp, good with question (interrogation) techniques.

Level 4.5: Don’t make them suspicious of what you’re doing. To them, you’re just a stranger wanting to make a friend.