Mastermind

our minds love nothing more than jumping to conclusions.

The past doesn’t often make room for the improbable. It constrains our deduction to the known, the likely, the probable. And who is to say that the evidence, if taken together and properly considered, doesn’t lead to an alternative beyond these realms?

In other words, be skeptical of yourself and of your own mind. Observe actively, going beyond the passivity that is our default state. Was something the result of an actual objective behavior (before you term Mary saintly, did you ever observe her doing something that would lead you to believe it?), or just a subjective impression (well, she looked

Sometimes we just need to realize that even if we are certain we aren’t biased in any way, that nothing extraneous is affecting our judgments and choices, chances are that we are not acting in an entirely rational or objective fashion. In that realization—that oftentimes it is best not to trust your own judgment—lies the key to improving your judgm

Likewise, had he linked it to his existing knowledge base—in other words, instead of moving a fresh box or folder into his attic, had he integrated it into an existing, related one, be it on the topic of bloody crime scenes with bloodless bodies,

Accurate intuition is really nothing more than practice, of letting skill replace learned heuristics.

The important thing is the proper, selective training—the presence of mind—coupled with the desire and the motivation to master your thought process.

To think like Sherlock Holmes, we must want, actively, to think like him.

He took System Watson and taught it to operate by the rules of System Holmes, imposing reflective thought where there should rightly be reflexive reaction.