An important one is visualization. So as fighter pilots, we will visualize through an entire sortie, and it's important to bring in as many senses as possible. And you want to visualize it perfectly the first time. If for whatever reason, your brain goes off on a tangent and you think about something not going perfectly, keep re-visualizing it until you get it down perfectly. Everything from how you're feeling, thinking, what it smells like — everything to make it as realistic as possible. That will not only prep your brain for interweaving all these different concepts together, but it will also increase your confidence because you essentially are telling yourself you've done it before. During the program’s development, he drew on his years of experience as a fighter pilot. He also incorporated lessons learned during his time as a boxer while attending the Air Force Academy. While at the academy, he was introduced to the concepts behind sports psychology for the first time, which he continued to build upon throughout his professional career. Firstly, he explains a story of how a plane ended up crashing because the pilots were in a state of panic, not thinking clearly and thoroughly. This accident could have been easily avoided and prevented if they had just stayed calm instead of jumping to action without working it out. Based on years of experience making high-stakes, split-second decisions as an Air Force fighter pilot, The Art of Clear Thinking teaches readers to make clear decisions in their everyday life. ​

Critical thinking is important in all subjects and disciplines – in science and engineering, as well as the arts and humanities. The types of evidence used to develop arguments may be very different but the processes and techniques are similar. Critical thinking is required for both undergraduate and postgraduate levels of study. What, where, when, who, why, how? With new or complex situations, we must move beyond our risk-versus-reward intuition and think in terms of expected value. upside multiplied by the probability of it occurring, minus the downside multiplied by the probability of that occurring. …in the real world, it can be difficult, if not impossible, to determine the exact numbers to use. This is called the base of sand problem. The solution, therefore, is to forgo the illusion of precision and use a technique called fast-forecasting. In almost every system, there are only a few variables that, due to strong power laws, drive the system. not get overwhelmed by the details—logic and reason are what drive the technique. Precision is often the enemy of conceptual thinking. no decision is a decision, and it’s usually the worst one to make.”One day I walked into the secure vault, which is the tactical nerve center of every fighter squadron, and Cygon was there telling a story about the test program he had been a part of in the F-16. He had learned that in a clean configuration, the F-16 would begin to buffet at around Mach 1.6—it was a known area where the aerodynamic forces would compound and amplify the vibrations. He said that it was possible to push through it by counterintuitively going faster. The change in resonance would dampen the flexing and reduce the vibration. It was an interesting story, but one that I didn’t think would apply to the tactical flying we did during day-to-day operations. This book is a distillation of those lessons and how modern U.S. fighter pilots think about decision-making. Being on the cutting edge of applied decision-making, we’ve taught the techniques in this book to pilots around the world, including the Dutch, Danish, Israeli, Norwegian, South Korean, Japanese, and over a dozen other air forces. We’ve also had many other elite teams come and observe our training so they could incorporate our lessons into their own fields. We’ve taught surgeons, Super Bowl–winning coaches, CIA agents, Fortune 500 CEOs, NASA astronauts, and many others who now successfully use these principles in their own fields. When you're in a situation like that, what are the things that you do to keep yourself focused and make the clearest decision possible?

Strap in and hold on as Hasard Lee lights the afterburner on leadership and risk management under extreme pressure. The Art of Clear Thinking is a riveting read, full of instantly actionable advice—not just for high-stakes decisions, but also for handling everyday choices at work and home." —Scott Parazynski, 5x NASA shuttle Astronaut, Astronaut Hall of Fame, credited with saving the Space Station during STS-120, Physician, Inventor, Tech CEO, Author George Nolly, 315 combat missions, 24 Air Medals, 3 Distinguished Flying Crosses, 100+ Missions Over North Vietnam, Author Flesch flourished as a writing teacher, plain-English consultant, and author. He wrote many books on the subject of clear, effective communication: How to Test Readability (1951), How to Write Better (1951), The Art of Plain Talk (1946), The Art of Readable Writing (1949), The ABC of Style: A Guide to Plain English (1964), and Rudolf Flesch on Business Communications: How to Say What You Mean in Plain English (1972).As a former fighter pilot with two tours in Vietnam, I loved this book. For over a hundred years aerial combatants have shared their death defying stories. The examples Hasard shares, though, are more than simply exciting flying stories. When he describes rolling in with his gun and raining down 100 rounds per second on the bad guys to save U.S. lives, it’s not simply for braggadocio. It helps readers learn about resourcefulness and planning when lives are on the line. And it also helps the executive to deal with adversity in a fluid situation where millions of dollars are at stake in the C-Suite. This book is replete with examples from aviation and industry that will help you to make better decisions. I relished reading this book and wholeheartedly recommend it without reservation." —George Nolly, 315 combat missions over Vietnam, 24 Air Medals and 3 Distinguished Flying Crosses, last pilot to complete 100 missions over North Vietnam, Author From dogfights during some of combat’s most hazardous conditions to training sessions as one of the Air Force’s most skilled pilots, Lee’s extensive experience flying the world’s most complex combat jets, including the F-16 and F-35, is highly impressive. Through his debut book, he helps readers see that the pressure and chaotic environments he’s lived through are highly relatable.

Lee's writing style is engaging, combining technical expertise with personal anecdotes, making the content accessible and relatable. The book's teachings are supported by real-world examples from diverse fields, including business and intelligence agencies. Introduces "Ace Helix" framework that offers a systematic approach to decision-making--stands for Assess, Choose, Execute, and Improve. This particular chapter focuses on how to think through difficulties, and Flesch surveys the field of commentators, each having essentially the same insights about the process. At the end, he offers this down-to-earth list of reminders: A riveting read, full of instantly actionable advice—not just for high-stakes decisions, but also for handling everyday choices at work and home."Some of Flesch's quips are also witty. His comments regarding other popular literature at the time were, to me, scintillating. This is his opinion on Dianetics: 'Dianetics, in fact, was only one in a long line of "comfort" books - the literature on how to relax and not to worry about anything. These books are commonly classified as nonfiction books, but that doesn't mean they are factual. People read them regardless of whether they contain information or misinformation; they take them as sedatives.' In The Art of Clear Thinking , Hasard Lee distills what he’s learned during his career flying some of the Air Force’s most advanced aircraft. With gripping firsthand accounts from his time as a fighter pilot and fascinating turning points throughout history, Hasard reveals powerful decision-making principles that can be used in business and in life, Minute From Buddhism to Stoicism, Confucius and Aristotle - Bite-Sized Wisdom From Some of History’s Greatest Thinkers As someone who wasn’t much of an active reader, this book 100% changed my view on reading. Hasard Lee, a U.S. Air Force Fighter Pilot, discusses multiple methods and concepts for improving one’s critical thinking skills. We know that these are legit tips since he was hand-selected by the Air Force to fly the F-35, the most advanced weapon systems in the world. And what better way to convey his advice, than through past experiences and significant flights in aviation history. Throughout the book, Lee goes into many different ways of how a stressful and challenging situation can hinder our ability to make the best decision. He uses real world examples from his experience, providing readers with a comprehensive understanding of these times where our brain does not work the best.

Flesch was born in Vienna, Austria. He fled to the United States to avoid the imminent invasion of the Nazis, to avoid Jewish prosecution. Once in America, he met Elizabeth Terpenning, whom he married. They had six children: Anne, Hugo, Jillian, Katrina, Abigal, and Janet. Flesch lived the majority of his life with his wife and children in Dobbs Ferry, New York, a small village in southern Westchester county.

Learn To Think Using Thought How to Expand Your Mental Horizons, Understand Metacognition, Improve Your Curiosity, and Think Like a Philosopher The system that Lee describes is known as the ACE Helix - Assess, Choose, and Execute. Lee presents a well thought out approach for taking these concepts and applying them to the world that most of us live in. The vast majority of us will never be soldiers, let alone fighter pilots. The decisions we make will most likely not have life or death implications. Yet, these principles will provide a platform for evaluating current circumstances and drawing on the experiences we’ve had to make the best decision within the shortest period of time that is possible. To solve a puzzling problem, look for a seemingly irrelevant key factor in the situation and for a seemingly unsuitable pattern in your mind. In The Art of Clear Thinking (1951), Flesch consolidates research data and then-recent findings from the fields of psychology and education, and suggests how his readers can apply that information in their daily life. As he writes in his introduction, "It would be impudent to tell intelligent, grown up people how to think. All I have tried to do here is to assemble certain known facts about the human mind and put them in plain English."