Your brain is the engine that propels you forward through life. Like a mechanic tuning a car’s engine, the more you know about how your brain engine works, especially at the subconscious level, the better you can manage how it performs.
The graphic model above highlights the keys to mitigating the errors, misperceptions and illusions that thwart your ability to perform at your best.
You can recognize the power of these insights by recalling your own bad decisions (we all have more than a few of those, don’t we?). Look critically at the decision as well as the information you had at the time. If the decision doesn’t make sense to you now, you will likely find you were influenced by one of these mind traps.
Each area highlights a specific area for awareness and improvement:
1) Expose Hidden Illusions
Your subconscious brain is a magician - an illusionist who controls your attention and decieves you into seeing things that aren't there.
EXAMPLE: the WYSIATI Illusion (What you see is all there is) - is a deception that fools us into assuming that we have all or most of the relevant information on a topic. We make decisions based on only our own perspective and don’t allow for the fact there is likely more information - often MUCH more - beyond what we know.
2) Reduce Cognitive Biases
Minimize the impact of the irrational preferences of the subconscious mind that influence thoughts and behavior without that person’s conscious awareness.
EXAMPLE: Confirmation Bias is is often referred to as "the mother of all cognitive biases." It occurs when you avoid or discount information that conflicts with what you believe and only accept information that aligns with how you already think and feel.
3) Intercept Shortcuts (heuristics)
Heuristics are mental shortcuts that help us process information and navigate the world quickly. However, they can be detrimental to the quality of decisions that require forethought. Reduce errors by circumventing these mental shortcuts.
EXAMPLE: Anchoring heuristic - We become “anchored” to information we encounter early about a topic. This results in the anchored information seeming more credible and important than subsequent information.
4) Engage a Logic Radar
Logic is often suspiciously missing when points are made during discussions and arguments. Strengthen problem solving and argument skills by uncovering the logical fallacies in yours and others’ arguments.
EXAMPLE: Straw man fallacy involves distorting someone else's position rather than addressing the actual argument. The distorted argument is then easier to attack. Look for the “so” tell. “So what you are saying is…”
This is just a very high-level look at the areas we neest to understand if we went to elevate our mental mastery and perfom at our best. I highly encourage you to learn more so you can develop your own strategies for mitigating their effects.
Think well - live well.
- Steve Haffner, speaker and mind performance strategist
Want to learn more about improving your decision making performance?
Click here for my free book, 7 Strategies for Making Better Decisions