[poppup]

Good question. In my view, thinking fast has to do with how well you can process emotion. Do you get stuck in the headlights or do you dive out of the way of the truck coming at you?

That is not a question of preparedness mentally. It is a question of emotional preparedness. As in, how do you process fear?

As to the ability to process information, that is also related to emotion, as in, what do you care to pay attention to and what do you readily discard?

Knowing how you feel and then being capable of processing emotions quickly as they arise is probably the most important skill there is for us humans and that is true whether you lived during the Rennaissance or in a cave or if you work at google.

If you are interested in more about the subject of becoming more capable, let me know. I am writing a book about it presently and would love to share it with you and get your feedback. The results have been pretty great. People say that focusing on capabilities makes them feel lighter and younger. I also feel lighter, my thoughts flow at lightning speed, making me more prepared for change. I can be found at poppitup on twitter. Just follow the cat.

[georgerobinson]

I would like to second this thought. I'm currently doing a masters degree and the examinations are very different to those from undergraduate. Rather, the exam papers are all about applying your knowledge and experience in order to solve unfamiliar questions on familiar content. Therefore, when you write an exam paper you must keep calm. If you let your emotions take control of the situation it can be very hard to recover.

For example: I sat an exam just two days ago when one question offered an unfamiliar ordering of events in an incomplete version of the Paxos consensus algorithm. The question was looking for candidates to identify situations under which the protocol would fail. There is a huge amount of pressure to figure it out in the 20 minutes you have. Getting stressed out and context switching between questions WILL prevent you from getting the answer right. Stay cool, think clearly, and 9/10 you will get the answer.

Conversely, there was a lady sitting next to me in one of my exams this morning. The questions were challenging and largely unexpected. I could see that she was holding back tears and frantically trying to find questions she thought she could answer. As awful as it sounds, she let her emotions take control of the situation and as a result lost at least 30 minutes where she could have been working her way through the exam getting at least partial marks on questions.

I think taking control of your emotions is something you can learn. Whether it is easy or not probably depends on the individual. I am no expert. For me, a masters degree has really helped me take control of high stress situations. I am much more capable at identifying causation, eliminating correlation and finding the answer than I ever was before.

[kev6168]

emotion and feeling! this is a wonderful angle to look at the ability of "quickness in thinking". I always suspect there is more to the 'hard' portion(knowledge/experience/skills) that contributes to one's quickness. The 'soft' part might be _more_ important. This is one question needed to be studied. Another question is how to tap into and train the emotion/feeling part to modify/increase/utilize it, or is it mostly innate?

About the "quickness" I am asking for, If a gun is pointed at me and I am forced to come up with an analogy, I would say I am asking for the "quickness" in James Bond's behaviors and handling of situations, not the thoughtfulness and depth of Sherlock Holmes (although he was not slow for sure), if you know what I mean. Sorry for the bad analogy.

very interested in your book, will definitely follow it.

[walterbell]

> About the "quickness" I am asking for, If a gun is pointed at me

Read Principles of Personal Defense and/or To Ride, Shoot Straight, and Speak the Truth by Jeff Cooper