A neuroscientist’s 5-step plan to upgrade your brain

Thomas Edison said that success is “1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration.” But what if his famous formula is missing a key ingredient? What if success demands not just creativity and perseverance, but a third, much less discussed skill?

Modern neuroscience suggests it does. Research shows mastering this often overlooked ability will not only upgrade your brain, but make it much more likely you’ll achieve your goals (with less perspiration along the way).

The secret ingredient for success

What is this magic ingredient? Some scientists call it a strategic mindset. Others term it metacognition. Whatever label you go with, the idea is straightforward enough. Metacognition is thinking about your thinking. It means not just doggedly pursuing your goals but questioning how you pursue them.

If you’re a student, that might mean evaluating your study techniques. Is rereading the text over and over the most efficient way to study? (Science suggests not.) If you’re playing poker, it could look like observing when you’re letting emotion get in the way of a smart bet. Business leaders might not just ask, “Did I make the right decision?” but also, “Is there a smarter way to make similar decisions in the future?”

This kind of strategic thinking can have big impacts, research out of Stanford and the National University of Singapore recently found. Scientists tested more than 850 volunteers chasing a variety of tough goals, from academic excellence to weight loss. The more study subjects employed metacognition, the more likely they were to reach their aims.

The most successful people, in other words, weren’t necessarily the smartest or the grittiest, though those abilities certainly help. They were the ones who thought about their own thinking, probing for ways to improve.

Metacognition can be taught

That’s interesting to know, but the finding isn’t very useful for entrepreneurs unless it’s a skill that can be taught. Helpfully, it can.

Not only did the researchers find that a strategic mindset makes you more likely to be successful, they also showed that when study participants were explicitly taught about metacognition, their odds of achieving their goals went up.

“What we know now is that adults seem to naturally vary in their strategic mindset, and that a strategic mindset can be taught,” study co-author Patricia Chen summed up to the BBC.

5 tricks to upgrade your brain

So how do you teach yourself to reflect on and improve thinking? “Above all, stay curious about how your mind works,” neuroscientist and author Anne-Laure Le Cunff suggested on Big Think recently.

She went on to offer five specific ideas to upgrade your brain through metacognition:

Explain things to yourself. “When learning something new, don’t just read or listen. Ask yourself why it makes sense and how it connects to what you already know,” she writes. Both Bill Gates and Elon Musk have recommended this same technique of trying to hook up new knowledge with previously learned information to speed learning.
Study your mistakes. “If something goes wrong, resist moving on too quickly. Instead, dig into what happened: What was I thinking? Where did my reasoning break down? What was I assuming? What would I do differently?” suggests Le Cunff. Get detailed advice on how to learn more from your mistakes here.
Think out loud. “When solving a problem or making a decision, narrate your thought process. Speak (or write) what you’re thinking as you think it. This makes your invisible reasoning visible so you can examine it,” she says. Le Cunff is far from the only expert claiming that writing is a powerful way to stress test and clarify your thinking.
Check your confidence. “Notice how sure you feel when making a decision. Consider whether your confidence comes from solid evidence or gut feeling, and what information you might be missing,” she says. Psychologists insist that learning to think in probabilities can aid in this process.
Notice your thoughts. “Just like in mindfulness meditation, simply observe your mental processes without judgment. You don’t need to meditate for hours; even a few minutes of paying attention to your thinking can be helpful,” Le Cunff concludes.

Achieve more, sweat less

All of these practices share a common thread. They nudge you to pay closer, more skeptical attention to your thoughts in progress. Watch yourself think and you’ll find ways to improve your approach to problems. Rather than muscle through with a suboptimal strategy or rickety logic, you’ll avoid pitfalls and proceed more efficiently.

With respect to Mr. Edison, hard work definitely plays a big part in achievement. But upgrading your brain through metacognition can help you reach your goals with a whole lot less unnecessary perspiration.

source https://www.fastcompany.com/91469696/neuroscientists-5-step-plan-upgrade-your-brain