Cognitive Flexibility
revisited

Have you ever tried to start on something but struggled, hit a roadblock, and thought “how can I do this strategically?”

You may have heard of the term metacognition. It’s the awareness and understanding you have of your own thought processes. So it’s really, how you think about your thinking. Because the impact of having metacognitive skills is so robust, it has been one of the most researched topics in learning for the past 40 years.

You can think of metacognition as a flashlight that allows you to navigate through your thoughts. Without metacognition, when faced with something new or challenging, we might engage in haphazard guesswork, or focus only on how much time we spent, rather than paying attention to what exactly we did, which can lead to feelings of frustration or a lack of confidence in our abilities.

This is why developing our metacognitive skills is a crucial first step in being strategic. We can then employ an iterative process, where we create a plan, try it out and, evaluate by asking- did it work?. This helps us revise the plan and repeat the process!

Researchers call this cycle self-regulated learning, which strategic, effective learners intentionally practice. So, without metacognition, learners, unaware of their thought process, cannot self-regulate.

So how can you exercise your metacognition and self-regulate when you encounter your next challenge? Pause and notice how you are approaching the problem. Are you being strategic? Start by coming up with a plan. If you’re stuck, you can find out what has been tried before. You can keep a log or record of how you spent your time, what you tried, and what the outcomes were. You can seek help from others. By talking with someone with more experience, you might find something to practice, look up, or try differently. You can also get feedback on your approach by sharing your log or record. When faced with a large challenge, we can be strategic by breaking it down into smaller tasks. We can work on it piece by piece, and perhaps with the help of others, we’ll manage to figure out where to go next or find what is wrong.

While we are often motivated by a big goal such as finishing a difficult project or even a long-term goal like becoming an artist, a software engineer, or a public speaker, we need to remind ourselves that we can be strategic. So how do you assess your progress?

This week when you find yourself stuck on something, stop and reflect on what is or isn’t working. Write it down. Your metacognition--this awareness of how you are learning or doing something--is what will allow you to be strategic and self-regulate to iteratively plan, try, and evaluate.