With the internet saturating ever deeper into our busy lives, humans are navigating uncharted informational and attentional waters these days. MIT neuroengineer, Ed Boyden, put together these rules of thumb to managing brain resources in an age of complexity.

7. Make your mistakes quickly. You may mess things up on the first try, but do it fast, and then move on. Document what led to the error so that you learn what to recognize, and then move on. Get the mistakes out of the way. As Shakespeare put it, "Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win, by fearing to attempt."

(Via Kottke.)

Work backward from your goal. Or else you may never get there. If you work forward, you may invent something profound--or you might not.

While this may be the case for 'how to think', it may not match all ends when 'how to live' is involved... and well, what's the point in thinking if living is set aside in the process

I recall a quote from Einstein: "Imagination is more important than knowledge."

I still don't know how to post clipmarks! Can somebody email me simple instructions to the_meretruth@yahoo.com
I know how to copy the information, but it doesn't appear in the clipmark list.

Fast: Good point!

Mere: Try here.

You know, this is not just how to think, it's how to learn. Especially when it comes to foreign languages, people often over-estimate the role that memory plays, and underestimate the power of their own thought process.

That is to say, No.2 is essentially achieved via the prescient application of the other skills.

I teach almost all of these to my students, and the impact on their verbal ability in English is visible within only a week.

and do not forget to clip it..

The book that influenced the quality of my thinking the most was Richard Hofstadter's "Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid". I've worn out two hardcover copies in thirty years and still find more each time I go back to it. It's #1 on my list of desert island books.