Metacognition: Thinking About Thinking

Metacognition is the process of thinking about your thoughts. 
You're doing it. You just don't know it.

This technique is usually promoted by professionals to deal with some mental health issues and also by several teachers in the classroom.

In simpler words, it is like a big brain watching and analyzing your own brain.

In today's post I won't be focusing on the technical aspect of it rather, I'll be discussing more about how we can incorporate into our lives and it's benefits. 

Without further ado,
Let's get to it!

 A person has about 6000+ thoughts on an average daily.

We as humans have a natural tendency to do 2 things: Overthink most of our decisions or blissfully ignore them.

Metacognition falls into the former part and can also be coined as 'healthy overthinking'.

It involves one’s thinking process leading to better study techniques, memory processing, and the ability to self-monitor one’s learning process.
You become the person who self-questions themselves to gain a deeper understanding of your own thoughts and why you're experiencing them.
This technique also overlaps with the 'Circle Theory'.

Every goal we pursue in our day to day life requires thought and planning. We can bring the skill of metacognition to bear, and quality-control our thinking and planning in order to optimize our outcomes.
Let me explain with an example:

"I'm bad at math"

Why?

"Because I'm not getting the sum."

Why?

"Because I'm not getting the concept."

How can you combat the same?

"Ask for help?"

    Yes. And?

"Look deeper into my conceptual clarity and practice sums."

Yes!

It can also be described as "talking back to the voice in your head" and having a meaningful conversation with the same to land a solution.

(Fun fact: This is also what I spend 90% of my time doing during computer class.)
 Problem analysis and Problem solving.
Any successful professional would always give you this one advice.

The fact still lies that you can do this with literally anything including instances of planning an outfit or making your study plan.

But don't be confused: Though metacognition does involve thinking about one’s thinking, it is much more complex than that. A large part of metacognition is actively monitoring one’s own learning and making changes to one’s own learning behaviors and strategies based on this monitoring and developing coping mechanisms for the same.

This is also why it has proved to be an effective tool in getting me through my anxiety attacks. 
Think about what you're thinking.
Why are you thinking it?
Rationalize.

Now that we cleared out the fact about "what" it is,

Lets look into some of its benefits.

• Self growth.
  
• Improves your memory and thought process
• Promotes the idea of reflective communication and conversation
• Students who are exposed to this phenomenon at the educational aspect of their life are able to understand how he or she learns, remember and processes information, think about them and ultimately retain more.

Metacognition is critical in everyday life and is for all sorts of problem-solving and goal-directed behaviors. It is a life skill we that everyone should aspire to master. 

That was it for today's post! Don't forget to share, follow and comment for more!
Stay tuned for next week's #faltufriday post where I talk about something super special I experienced this month :)

Signing off,
Kuhu :)