"To solve hard problems, the brain needs ready access to the information, plans, procedures and knowledge it will be using. Cognitive scientists refer to this collective task knowledge as a task set."

"Be open to reconceptualizing problem structure. Often, the structure we invent doesn’t work for our problem and leads to dead ends. When stuck, we must be willing to reconceptualize a problem and look for new ways to address it."

"There are no simple tricks or get-smart-quick schemes that can make hard tasks suddenly effortless. But, if we are able to make space for our work, avoid multitasking, and pursue good problem-solving strategies, we might be more successful at the hard tasks we want achieve."