One difference that I notice in myself and other people who broadly identify as being part of rationality community is that I'm more likely to approach any questions/area in life systematically.
This mainly comes up when I'm faced with a non-trivial problem, or a problem that repeats over time.
In such situations I tend to wonder - has anyone came up with an established "best" way of solving problems of this type. If not - are there structural reasons for this or was it just because no-one tried to systematize things?
Some recent examples for me include:
I'd contrast this approach with a default that I'd describe as
going with the flow
doing what other people are doing
doing the first thing that comes to mind
doing what you were always doing because you parents were doing the same thing
It's a meta-cognitive habit to always ask, given that I want to achieve goal X
is it worth to spend time optimizing it
Not always worth it
limits to knowledge
if yes - what is the most effective way to get there
but valuable on the margin