The benefits of thinking about thinking
That's how I used to teach my students how to play tennis. I'd tell them to stand there and do nothing while I hit a ball past them, but to think about the right time to hit the ball.
I'd lob the ball past them about five times, then tell them to hit it and from then on, they didn't miss. I had instant tennis players.
I also taught instant speed-reading, and instant phonetic reading, having kids ages two to high school age go from knowing nothing to speed-reading in about 20 minutes, or less.
This even worked with learning disabled kids and later on, with Thai kids who didn't know English..they could read aloud in English even if they didn't know what it meant, although with Thai kids, I skipped the speed reading part.
Cool! That could be useful. I tend to think about thinking, but not in that practical a manner.
I can believe that metacognition, does help with our life in general...I do keep tabs on myself thinking! Sometimes, it surely gets off in the weeds though!