Failing to research the options

People used to speak of being left or right-brain dominant (where the left brain is more logical and algorithmic, and the right brain more artistic and intuitive).

However, both hemispheres of your brain are involved in all of the complex work you do. The most effective thinkers are the ones who learn to rely on both their intuitive judgments as well as their reasoning.

The theory goes that emotions reflect a more primitive form of thinking and that good thinking is only logical.

However, when faced with risky decisions, it is possible to talk yourself into almost anything. But, even a little anxiety in that situation can provide information too valuable to ignore.

Reading is one of the best sources of continuous learning. It allows your mind to grow, change and make new connections.

Highly successful learners read a lot: Elon Musk grew up reading two books a day, according to his brother. Bill Gates reads 50 books per year. Mark Zuckerberg reads at least one book every two weeks. Warren Buffett spends five to six hours per day reading five newspapers and 500 pages of corporate reports.

If you try to force yourself to just memorize random facts, you’re likely to forget them. 

We will most likely remember only the information that was meaningful to us, that we’ve been able to connect to our lives and our experiences.

We learn best when we perform the tasks we’re trying to learn. 

No matter how good your grades were at college, most of your learning takes place once you enter the workplace and start applying what you've learned.

When learning is difficult, you're doing your best learning, in the same way that lifting a weight at the limit of your capacity makes you stronger. 

When you keep trying to remember a piece of information, you interrupt the forgetting process and help cement the memory of that information into your brain. 

It's a strategy of mixing up the type of problems you solve when you're testing yourself.

That way, the testing conditions are more similar to real life, where you first have to figure out what kind of problem you have on your hands and then solve it. 

Metacognition (thinking about thinking) is about being more inspective about how you know what you know. It's a matter of asking ourselves questions like: Do I really get this idea? Could I explain it to a friend? What are my goals? Do I need more background knowledge? Or do I need more practice?

The behaviorist perspectives of learning originated in the early 1900s. The main idea of behaviorism is that learning consists of a change in behavior because of obtaining, strengthening and applying associations between input from the world, and observations of the individual.

• Learning is reinforced by exercise and repetition, followed by a positive reward.
• Learning takes place when the right parts of more complex behavior are rewarded.

Cognitive psychology started in the late 1950s and contributed to the move away from behaviorism.

• Instead of viewing people as collections of responses to external stimuli, people are viewed as information processors.
• Cognitive psychology was influenced by the computer that processes information, that became analogous to the human mind.
• Cognitive psychology understands learning as absorbing knowledge, acting on it, and storing it in memory.
• The main teaching methods are lecturing and reading textbooks, where the learner receives knowledge passively.

Skills and knowledge transfer far less than we would expect them to. So “broad-based” education is mostly a myth. What we learn is usually specific and often stuck to the contexts where it was learned.

Human beings would be misfits in society if it wasn’t for social awareness. It helps us to:

• Understand and communicate with others productively.
• Feel what is being said and say the right words.
• Sense people's inner conflicts and pain.
• Excel in communication and problem solving by being able to feel the vibe of a group of people.
• Being valued and respected.
• Contribute to solving society’s problems.

There are three competencies that are to be developed to grow one’s social awareness skills:

• Empathy: Being able to feel what others feel.
• Organizational awareness: Being aware of relationships, attitudes, and politics of a group.
• Service orientation: Responding to the needs of the situation.

There's no age at which humans are performing at peak on all cognitive tasks - our various cognitive functions peak at different times and past a certain age it might make more sense to view adult intelligence not through the lens of youthful general processing speed and reasoning, but through the lens of expertise, wisdom, and purpose.

...are your most precious for maximized productivity. 

Your brain is most attuned first thing in the morning, and so are your energy levels. Consequently, the best time to do your best work is during this time.

Spend the first 90 minutes of your workday on your #1 priority, nothing else. 

Zero distractions. Just get that work done.