Reflecting on it, making a good, accurate, and precise decision, judgment, or insight is a very difficult task that requires the following fundamental elements:
Experience - Life Experience (or work experience or involvement in a certain field)
A strong ethical foundation. This is crucial but rarely mentioned when discussing the components of intelligence. To put it simply, having solid ethics usually means choosing the long-term over the short-term. One tends to view things in accordance with "the way of heaven" rather than being driven by short-term, emotional human desires. There's a very telling quote:
The mother of all biases is the bias of self-interest.
Looking at everything through the lens of personal interest alone already distorts and skews everything.
A thinking model. This also requires significant training and learning various concepts about thought processes to even be considered somewhat adequate. It's important to emphasize that training is necessary; merely reading and understanding won't cut it.
A clear, alert mindset. Knowing everything and being proficient in everything is useless if you're sleepy, exhausted, drunk, or high; you won't be able to think or say anything meaningful or coherent.
I'm going to sleep now. Lack of sleep makes me start talking nonsense.
