How to think in any position. Run through the same questions every move until they become automatic. The pocket card is the short version to read before a game.
And in every game: fight until the very end and give your best.
Questions 1 to 3 come first in every position. In quieter positions, questions 4 and 5 guide the plan. Ask 6 and 7 before you commit to a move.
Scan to decide whether this position deserves your time. Knowing when to look for tactics is often harder than finding them. When you see these patterns, pause and check whether you can exploit them.
Tactical motifs are one sign that you've reached a critical moment, where it's worth spending real time. Look out for these signs:
Start with the crazy tries: sacrifices and checks that look wrong. They are usually forcing, so you can see them and reject them quickly. Every so often, one works.
For your opponent, always start with their best move and use it to try to refute your idea.
Before you look at your own moves, ask what your opponent wants. If it were their move right now, what would they play? Their threat often decides which of your moves are possible.
Don't rush to stop an idea just because you see it. First check that it's a real threat. Better still, find your own plan that also stops it.
Seeing all your options matters more than calculating one line far. Make the candidate list again at every move of your calculation. Most of the time we miss something in the first couple of moves, not at move eight.
Find the piece doing the least and improve it.
Find the ideal square for each of your pieces in this structure. Then look for the best route to get it there.
Every move your opponent plays has a drawback: a square no longer covered, a piece no longer defending, a diagonal opened. Find it, then ask whether you can use it.
When you are better, it's tempting to look for very forcing solutions. Besides how strong a move is objectively, look at how easy it makes your opponent's choice.
If every move of theirs is forced, the decision is easy for them: they play the only move. You spend all the energy and clock time. Either you're completely winning, or you've missed something and the position flips, and they get a very good position without doing anything special.
Prefer moves that leave your opponent several plausible choices and real chances to go wrong or get confused. That can mean improving slowly. It can just as well be an attacking line or a sacrifice where they have several ways to defend and only some of them work.
This matters most when your opponent is in time trouble. Don't rush to force things then. With options and little time, every decision is hard.
After my move, does my opponent face a real decision, or is their reply obvious?
Before you make the move, take one quick look at the position with fresh eyes. You are not calculating again, just making sure you haven't missed something really simple.
After my move, is anything left hanging? What are their checks, captures and threats?
During a game you won't go through these steps consciously. They have to become automatic, and that only comes with practice: in your games, in your analysis and in exercises.
Give your best in every game, from the first move to the last, and keep your focus the whole time. Lost positions get saved and won positions get lost. The game is not over until it is over.
Stay as focused as when the game was level. Won positions are often lost when we relax. See Converting an advantage.
Your opponent still has to find the moves. Make them as hard as possible, and don't resign while there is still something to play for. See Defence.