Metacognition: How to Get Better at Thinking About Your Thinking

You’ll often hear metacognition described as “thinking about thinking.” The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) puts it in terms of being aware of, reflecting on, and directing your thinking.

Let’s say you’re learning something new. You might stop and ask:

• What do I already understand?

• Which part is tripping me up?

• Is this approach actually helping?

• What could I try next?

That’s metacognition in action. You’re still doing the task, but you’re also checking how you’re going about it.

Two terms are useful here: metacognitive knowledge and metacognitive regulation. Don’t let the names put you off. Knowledge is what you know about yourself, the task, and the strategies you could use. Regulation is what you do with that knowledge: make a plan, check your progress, and look back at the result.

For example, if you need to explain a concept—not just remember its definition—you might prepare differently. Rather than copying the definition over and over, you could practice explaining it with an example. You’re choosing a method that fits what you actually need to do.

The EEF’s guidance on metacognition and self-regulated learning focuses on three connected steps: planning, monitoring, and evaluating.

In everyday language: decide how to start, check how it’s going, and see what you can learn afterward.

Before you jump in, take a moment to figure out what you want to achieve.

“I’ll study for an hour” tells you how long you’ll sit there. It doesn’t tell you what you want to learn. Try something more specific: “By the end of this session, I want to explain three key ideas and work through an example of each.”

A few questions can help:

• What does this task actually ask me to do?

• What do I already know that could help?

• What’s a reasonable way to start?

• How will I know I’ve done it well?

You don’t need a complicated plan. A clear goal and a sensible first step will do.

Once you’re working, pause at a natural stopping point. Are you making progress, or just keeping busy?

If you’re reading an article, stop after a section and try explaining the main point in your own words. Can’t quite do it? That’s useful information. Maybe there’s a term you don’t understand, a connection you missed, or a paragraph worth another look.

You can ask yourself:

• Can I explain what I just learned?

• Where did I lose the thread?

• Am I getting closer to my goal?

• Should I keep going, try something else, or ask for help?

This isn’t an invitation to critique every thought you have. You’re just checking whether your current approach fits the task.

When you’re done, go back to the goal you started with. How did things turn out?

Think about what worked, what was still difficult, and what you’d change next time. The more specific you can be, the more useful this becomes.

“I’m bad at this” doesn’t give you much to work with. “I understood the explanation, but I got stuck applying it to a new example” does. Now you know where to focus your next attempt.

You don’t have to get everything right to learn something useful from the experience.

Let’s put the cycle into an everyday situation. This is an illustration of how the steps might work, rather than a claim that this particular workplace routine has been separately tested.

• Plan: What does your audience need to understand? Pick three main points and decide what a clear presentation would look like.

• Monitor: Rehearse out loud. Notice where you ramble, where an explanation needs more work, or where you keep looking at your notes.

• Evaluate: After the presentation, think about how it went and consider any feedback. Choose one thing to change next time—perhaps a better example or a shorter introduction.

You’re doing the same task, but you’re also learning from how you do it.

Start with one task. No need to overhaul your whole routine. These three prompts are enough:

• Before: What’s my goal, and how will I approach it?

• During: What tells me my approach is working?

• After: What will I repeat or change next time?

Write your answers down if that helps, or just take a moment to think them through.

For a practical check on your understanding, try explaining an idea without looking at your notes. Then open them and see what you missed. The point isn’t to prove you’re good or bad at learning. It’s to find out what needs another look.

And if you notice something isn’t working, give yourself a next step. Try a different example, break the task into smaller parts, or ask a specific question. Reflection is more useful when it helps you decide what to do.

There’s a difference between checking your approach and getting stuck in a loop of self-criticism. “Why can’t I do this?” can keep you circling the same frustration. “Which step confused me, and what might help?” gives you somewhere to go.

Metacognition doesn’t replace knowing the subject, practicing, getting feedback, or having good instruction, either. The EEF recommends using these strategies within actual learning—not as separate thinking exercises disconnected from the task. Its discussion of implementation challenges is also a useful reminder that promising approaches don’t automatically work in every setting.

So keep your expectations realistic. Use reflection to guide your work, not as a substitute for doing it.

You don’t need to become an expert on the mind to try metacognition. Pick one task, notice how you’re approaching it, and make one useful adjustment.

Next time you sit down to learn something or solve a problem, ask yourself: “How will I know whether my approach is working?”

You might discover that you’re on the right track. Or you might spot something worth changing. Either way, you’ll have more to go on than simply hoping it all clicks.