Here's the general idea:
1.Note positional imbalances.
2.Who do you think stands better, by how much, and why.
3.Plan. This includes how to further imbalance (e.g., wait for them to castle so you can castle on the opposite wing) the position to your benefit. This is where you recall plans and ideas associated with certain pawn chains, centers, piece distribution, etc.
4.Choose candidate moves that could meet your goal.
5.Eliminate anything that doesn't work.
6.Play what you think is best.
I always wonder how players are thinking during the game, how they process their thinking. Are you looking at every possible move? How do you analyse the game? First yours or your opponent game? Is there a recurrent pattern in your thoughts? How do you structure it?
I feel like I do not think enough and play most by instinct, so sometimes it drives me where I shouldn't go, i.e. I didn't see this bishop could take my queen.
Share your thoughts thank you :-)