Consider Thinking Smarter or Just More

Call it the "leather couch problem," but it happens every time you have to purchase something expensive.

You'll be standing in the furniture store, contemplating my sofa options, do you want the chestnut cotton or the black suede sectional? when suddenly you're seized with an overwhelming anxiety.

What if you choose the wrong one? Beads of nervous sweat gather on your forehead; Ikea is not a fun place to have a mild panic attack.

Although you take my consumer choices seriously, you have always had the knack of making the wrong ones. Were you the guy with the outmoded TV and the ill-fitting jeans; did you ordered the special at a restaurants and hate it.

This recurring problem is what first leads one to investigate the talents and the limitations of the human brain. Can you teach yourself to make better choices? And what about the other things the brain is responsible for; creativity, willpower, deduction? Can you make your brain do more than it was already doing? Real Simple: How to worry less

Turns out, you can. Here are some principles of better thinking that you can apply to get more from your mind, every day.

1. Tap into your emotions.
Our conscious thoughts are only a fraction of what's going on in our brains. At any given moment, the unconscious is taking in vast amounts of information that we're not even aware of and processing it all very quickly. Based on its conclusions, the brain generates emotions.

So don't disregard that subtle feeling telling you to avoid the salmon special. Your personal internal supercomputer is trying to protect you and tell you something.

2. You can't think well under pressure.
It can be one of the worst moments of your life: playing basketball or netball, and your team is trailing by one critical point. If you sink two free throws, your team wins. The pressure is too much and you miss.

Instead of relying on the part of your unconscious brain, that works like a trained autopilot, one that has learned how to shoot balls into baskets after years of backyard practice, you over think the details, using logical, rational brain areas that had no idea how to get a ball through a hoop.

Once we've taken the time to develop a skill, trust your instincts and engage that part of yourself that is trained.

3. Consider alternative points of view.
Professional poker players often use a simple trick when they suspect another player of bluffing: They think about how the player would act if he or she weren't bluffing.

The brain naturally filters the world to confirm what it already believes but this habit is limiting and dangerous; you could be fixating on the wrong answers.

4. Challenge your preferences.
Like presumptive beliefs, your supposed likes and dislikes can limit your mind. You may be a bit of an expensive-wine snob but if you did a blind taste test of wines from different price ranges, you will discover what scientists have long since confirmed: There is no correlation between the price of a bottle of wine and how much you'll enjoy it.

By figuring out what you truly like, cheap wine or fancy shoes, you can enjoy your life, not to mention spending more wisely.

5. Take long showers.
Studies show that moments of insight often arrive when you're distracted and not aware that you're thinking of the problem, such as during a warm shower or a long stroll.

This is because insights are typically generated by a rush of high-frequency gamma-band neural activity in the brain's right hemisphere, and a mind is better able to tune in to that hemisphere when it is stress-free.

6. Be skeptical about your memories.
In recent years, scientists have demonstrated that human memories are surprisingly dishonest. The act of recalling an event changes the structure of that memory in the brain. Details are tweaked; the narrative is altered.

The more you think about it, the less accurate your recollection becomes, and the less reliable it is as a basis for making any kind of conclusion.

7. Don't expect to diet and finish the crossword.
It turns out that the prefrontal cortex, the area of the brain responsible for willpower and cognitive thought, is a rather feeble bit of flesh and it is easily depleted.

In a telling study, people who were asked to remember a seven-digit number and then offered a snack were much more likely to choose chocolate cake over fruit salad than were those who were asked to remember a one-digit number. The first group's self-control "muscles" were completely exhausted!

It's important to realise that you can do everything you wish but just not all at once.

8. Review your mistakes.
One common trait of successful people is their willingness to focus on their fumbles and faux pas. Even when they do well, they insist on looking at what they could have done better, faster, cheaper.

Such obsession or perfectionism might not be a recipe for happiness, but it's a vital component of learning, since brain cells figure out how to get things right by analysing what they got wrong.

9. Go ahead and daydream.
Forget about logic and efficiency. Scientists have discovered that daydreaming is an important tool for creativity: It causes a rush of activity in a circuit known colloquially as the default network. It inter-connects different parts of the brain and allows the mind to make new and craetive associations. The daydreaming brain is actually is not just cruising, it's in overdrive.

10. Think about thinking.
Metacognition, as this is known, is a crucial skill. Many scientists argue that the best predictor of good judgment isn't intelligence or experience; it's the willingness to engage in introspection.

The brain is like a Swiss Army Knife's Swiss Army Knife, full of different multi-tools. When picking out a couch, we can trust our emotions, but we should rely on the rational brain when scrutinizing the fine print of a mortgage.

Unless you think about which mental tool is best suited for the task at hand, you could well end up flustered, even sweating, in the sofa aisle at Ikea and not for the first time, I suspect.