心智模型是经过学习后，被牢牢记住的并熟练应用的技能或知识结构。我们学习的知识点有时是零散的，或者是有一定联系的，但没有形成有机的整体，并不可以直接综合起来应用。我们学习知识的目的是为了运用，那么如何才能更有效的运用呢？就是要形成自己的心智模型。我们要从知识中提取重要的规则，并将它们整合到结构之中，这样你得到的不仅仅是知识，还有诀窍以及解决某一类问题的方法和能力。这就是跃迁一书中提到的萃取知识晶体。知识晶体，是自己知识体系中重要的组成部分。是应对某一类问题，随时可以调用的一个模型。可见打造自己的心智模型的重要性。
作者还提到，反思有助于建立和完善自己的心智模型，因为反思可以强化所学到的知识，可以加深自己对知识的理解，有利于提取规则，并建立心智模型并完善它。
因此我们学习完后，不要忘记反思以及打造自己的心智模型，以便以后在遇到任何一类问题的时候，可以轻车熟路的应对，并且建立完善的个人知识体系。
Mental models are the skills or knowledge structures that have been consolidated in your brain and applied freely in your life. Sometimes, the points of knowledge we learn is seperate from each other, and not in a system, so we can't apply them directly. However, the aim of learning is to apply, how can we apply the knowledge more efficiently in our lives? The answer is to establish your own mental models. It is suggested that we summarize the core principles from the knowledge we learned, and then restructure them into a system, thus you will not only gain the knowledge, but also develop the skills or abilities of tackling certain kind of problems. This is similar as the concept, knowledge crystal, which is proposed in the book TRANSITION. Knowledge crystals are the key parts which make up your knowledge system, and are the models that you can use anytime to address varieties of problems. So you can see how important it is to establish your mental models.
It is said in the book that reflection helps to establish and improve your mental models, because it can consolidate or deepen your understanding of the knowledge you have learned and helps to extract the principles from the knowledge. Therefore, don't forget to do reflection and establish your mental models after learning, so that you can solve a diverse range of problems without effort and set up your own knowledge system.
