A Psychologist Explains The One Mental Habit High Performers Swear By

InnovationScienceA Psychologist Explains The One Mental Habit High Performers Swear ByByMark Travers,Contributor.Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. I write about relationships, personality, and everyday psychology.Follow AuthorJun 08, 2026, 08:30am EDTWhat distinguishes the cream of the crop? This one mental habit helps every high performer learn faster, work smarter and avoid costly mistakes.gettyMost assume that high performers succeed because they work harder, think faster or have some rare talent the rest of us don’t. And while, of course, ability certainly matters, it only takes you so far. Instead, psychology suggests that many exceptional performers share something else in common: metacognition.Often described as “thinking about thinking,” metacognition refers to our ability to observe, evaluate and regulate our own mental processes. It’s the difference between simply doing a task and stepping back to ask: “Is this actually working?” “Am I approaching this the right way?” “What could I be doing better?”In a way, metacognition is your mind’s quality-control system. Rather than becoming fully absorbed in the task at hand, people with strong metacognitive skills create a degree of psychological distance from their own thinking. And with this distance, they can monitor their progress, scrutinize their assumptions and adjust course when necessary.As easy as this sounds on paper, it’s not quite as simple in practice. Decades of psychological research suggest that metacognition plays a critical role in the highest tiers of learning, performance and expertise development. So while effort does matter, high performers are often distinguished by how effectively they direct that effort.Whether they’re preparing for an important presentation, building a business, training for a marathon or mastering a new skill, they tend to leverage metacognition in three key ways. Here’s a breakdown of each, according to psychological research.MORE FOR...