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How to Think Better: The Skill You’ve Never Been Taught

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Summary

In this article, the author discusses how to think better, and how multitasking is not effective for improving your cognitive abilities. The author goes on to explain that good thinking requires concentration and patience to develop original ideas. To improve your thinking abilities, the author suggests taking time to write out your thoughts. Furthermore, the author emphasizes that good decision-making requires good thinking, and that taking the time to get it right will save time in the long run.

Q&As

What is the importance of the ability to think critically?
The importance of the ability to think critically is that it can help you make better decisions, have fewer problems, and have more free time.

What did the Stanford study on multitasking conclude?
The Stanford study on multitasking concluded that people do not multitask effectively, and that the more people multitask, the worse they are at multitasking itself.

What does William Deresiewicz say is necessary for good thinking?
William Deresiewicz says that good thinking means concentrating on one thing long enough to develop an idea about it, not learning other people’s ideas or memorizing a body of information.

What is the heuristic for determining how good someone is at making decisions?
The heuristic for determining how good someone is at making decisions is how much time they have.

What does Deresiewicz recommend in order to improve thinking?
Deresiewicz recommends scheduling time to write out your thoughts in order to improve thinking.

AI Comments

👍 This article provides a great perspective on how to think better. It combines research and the advice of a renowned author to provide a comprehensive look at the thought process and how to improve it.

👎 The article is too long and could have been condensed more. It also contains a lot of technical jargon which can make it difficult to understand for some readers.

AI Discussion

Me: It's about how to think better and how important it is to spend time thinking through problems in order to make good decisions. The article argues that multitasking is not beneficial to our thinking process and that it actually impairs our ability to think. It also suggests that we should spend more time writing out our ideas in order to help with our thinking process.

Friend: That's really interesting. It definitely makes sense that multitasking wouldn't be beneficial to our thinking process. It sounds like the article is encouraging us to slow down and take the time to think through a problem instead of trying to rush through it.

Me: Yeah, that's exactly right. The article's main point is that we need to slow down and take the time to think through a problem in order to make good decisions. It also suggests that writing out our ideas can help us to think more effectively.

Friend: That's a really important lesson to learn. It's easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of life and try to rush through decisions without really thinking them through, but if you want to make good decisions, it's important to take the time to think them through and consider all of the consequences.

Action items

Schedule time to write out your thoughts and ideas.
Read and re-read the entire essay by William Deresiewicz.
Practice focusing on one task at a time and resist the urge to multitask.

Technical terms

Multitasking: The ability to do multiple tasks at the same time.
Cognitive Functions: Mental processes such as memory, problem solving, and decision making.
Distractible: Easily distracted by external stimuli.
Mental Filing: The ability to store and quickly retrieve information.
Heuristic: A problem-solving approach that uses trial and error to find a solution.
Tetris: A puzzle video game in which the player must arrange falling blocks into complete rows.