We need non-derivative thinking to be strategic

Derivative thinking: reactive, aimless/path-dependent, usually stream-of-thought processing of information

Primary thinking: consciously done, high-effort, synthesis/integration of ideas with longer-term goals in mind

It's impossible to be strategic for our long-term if we only react to information consumed (even if we do it extremely well) and never sit down with just ourselves to consider our vectors, wishes, and bottlenecks to jump out of; especially if the things you want (or want to want) aren't completely obvious yet.

Acquiring information can be good for generating insight, but even after we generate we need to find out how to implement them into our lives or plans. Also worth mentioning that both types of thinking are *skills*, not just action mediums - in the same way that meditation is a skill that can be improved rather than a fixed process that you spend time in to gain an outcome. There is easily a 1,000x effectiveness difference in good and bad thinkers trying to solve the same open-ended problem with the same information.

High-effort, skillful derivative thinking is vital for effectively learning new things and updating our world model, but I think capable people generally already do it well (and it's known as a valuable skill), so there's less of a need to expound on it.