How can I reduce my thinking process?

I have a nice step by step thinking process. It's a list with bullet points like "center" "increase options for knight" "exchange bad bishop" "check for weaknesses on both sides" "improve position of pieces" "develop" and many more, which I go through every move. I play a lot better when considering all of that.

The problem is as soon as I play against someone somewhere on the board a lot of noises and tasks like notation or a clock are distracting me and put me under pressure and I lose focus. My thinking process gets too long for those situations. I tried out shorter thinking methods like CCT (Captures, Checks, Threats), but they never helped me as much as my own method.

How can I shorten the list`? What is REALLY important in chess?
I hope for some advice from strong players! Thanks in advance!

To prune your thinking process you must train yourself to block out distractions. You must only think of the board and chess, nothing else.

Welcome to real chess.

I would suggest getting a true thinking process.

First one I always suggest is:
Igor Smirnov - chess-teacher.com/affiliates/idevaffiliate.php?id=1517

Click there and look around. Look at the free material too. He has one called "Breaking Stereotypes". It goes over common misconceptions with positions. Like the idea that "Bg4/Bg5, Bb4/Bb5" is always good, and preventing with h3/h6 a3/a6 is always good. It could be considered a blunder to prevent it, and it could be a blunder to play it.

Second one:
Silman - How to reassess your chess

Smirnov is very short and concise. He has a thinking method, and he has a system for double checking for blunders. In my opinion check lists are generally not good for people after they learn how tactics work. They need to learn at least basic strategic play. And these authors are the basic starting point. You can even take them to master. Silman is probably not what you're looking for however if you want short processes.

Realize that tactics are not separate from strategic play. They are the same. And you have to think strategically the whole time. One of the things both authors say is you should know "When" the calculate. Positions with less tactical tension require less calculation, positions with more tactical tension require more calculation.

Understanding certain positional elements makes it easier. Even things as little as taking advantage of space, or knowing a little about fighting certain pawn structures helps.

If you have questions feel free to PM me.

dont torture yourself with all these and lose your creativity.. and intuition. you will start playing like a computer with that thought process

Fortunately chess is not a matter of rote memorization. You don't get better by going down a checklist, as someone who is thinking outside of that list is going to beat you. If you want to get better at chess, I would recommend playing long time control games and, most importantly, analyzing them afterwards. This is just the opinion of a lowly non-master player, so take it as you will.

Try not thinking and you will notice your results improve

Look at were the pieces are aiming.
Don't permit the pieces to remain in your territory.

always come up with plans. Plans help you stay engaged in the game and save time. Don't just think up a plan and play it check for better moves every move to improve it. Finnaly be fine with uncertainty, chose a point of the game you are proud of to ease the fear of the result. I can only only offer so much advice, grandmasters give advice on www.perpetualchesspod.com/new-bloghttps://www.perpetualchesspod.com/new-blog.

It,s a chess podcast with grandmaster interviews, they give a lot of tips.

Most gain in thought efficiency comes from not calculating on opponent's turn, only on your own turn and instead do strategic reasoning on opponent's turn.

If you see how those points advance your position then they should become natural, something you don't need to recollect and think one by one. Same way as you first needed to practice seeing what your pieces can capture and afterwards it has become almost instant (depending on the complexity of the position of course).