Thought Process in Chess

How can I improve my thought process when playing chess? I watch streams covering tournaments where top GMs are playing and always wonder how they come up with such good moves. I've heard of looking for forcing moves in the position, but if there are no good checks, captures, or attacks, what should I keep in mind when looking for candidate moves? 

Also, how can I find moves that help me build an initiative? I've seen games by Tal where in a relatively calm position, he manages to stir things up and create a tremendous initiative seemingly out of nowhere. Are there certain things I should be looking for if I am trying to gain the initiative?

Kotov wrote "Think Like a Grandmaster" about this.
Who was Kotov?
https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1084375 

What a game! Thanks for the recommendation.