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...are common thinking errors that harm our rational decision-making.
We don't always see things as they are. We don't simply glean information through the senses and act on it; instead, our minds give that info their own spin, which can sometimes be deceptive.
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Is our tendency to overestimate the odds of our own success compared to other people's.
Overly optimistic predictions can be dangerous, leading us to waste time and resources pursuing unrealistic goals. In the real world of business, things don't always work out for the best, and it serves us well to know when conditions are not on our side.
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Is the tendency to change our thought processes and behaviors more because of negative things than we do because of neutral or positive things.
How to control it: Track your wins: record objectives attained, new ideas realized, and positive effects your work has had on the lives of others.
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Is the tendency to focus on new information that confirms pre-existing beliefs and trivialize anything that might challenge those beliefs.
How to control it: Seek out information that goes against your pre-existing beliefs.
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It describes our tendency to commit to something just because we've already invested resources in it—even if it would be better to give up on it.
How to control it: Always reevaluate your processes in light of new evidence.
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Is the tendency to privilege the first information we encounter, even when subsequent information turns out to be more relevant or realistic.
How to control it: Because the anchoring effect can give you blinders for specific metrics, be sure that you're always reviewing data from new angles.
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Is why we get attached to things when we had a hand in creating them.
It echoes the sunk cost fallacy: We're not prioritizing the object/project as much as we are the resources we've put into it.
The IKEA effect is easy to put to good use at work. You can do it for yourself by getting deeper in the weeds of the project you're a part of.
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It explains why we work harder to achieve our goals when they're most closely in sight: At work, you might notice that you and your coworkers sprint toward a project's finish line once you can see the light at the end of the tunnel.
How to control it: Visualize your work in ways that allow you to see how far you have to go.
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We are apt to minimize cognitive effort and save our strength for when it's most needed. If we're not consciously engaged with the details, we're likely to take any shortcut that presents itself.
How to control it: Mindful and deliberate choices about how we apply our mental effort can help us establish patterns that eliminate friction and emphasize our strengths.
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SIMILAR ARTICLES & IDEAS:
Cognitive Biases are a collection of faulty and illogical ways of thinking which are hardwired in the brain, most of which we aren’t aware of.
The idea of cognitive biases was invented ...
It's a tendency to heavily weigh the moment which is closer to the present, as compared to something in the near or distant future.
Example: If you are offered a choice of $150 right now or $180 after 30 days, you would be more inclined to choose the money you are offered right now. However, if we take the present moment out of the equation, and put this offer in the distant future, where you are offered $150 in 12 months or $180 in 13 months, your choice is likely to be the latter one.
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People don't like to rethink their beliefs once they are formed.
We would rather ignore information that would challenge our ideas than engage with threatening new information. This is ...
Our brain likes to take shortcuts to solve a problem when normal methods are too slow to find a solution.
The problem with this approach is that frightening events are easier to recall than every-day events. We should be aware that alarmist news broadcasts don't help in an accurate sense of events.
We have a tendency to stubbornly hold on to a number once we hear it and gauge all other numbers based on the initial number, even if the information is not that relevant.
For example, if customers are limited to 'four per customer' they are more likely to buy four, even if they did not initially intend to do so.
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Most decision-making errors boil down to:
If you already have an opinion about something before you've even tried to figure it out, chances are you'll over-value information that confirms that opinion.
Think about what kinds of information you would expect to find to support alternative outcomes.
The “fundamental attribution error,” is when we excuse our own mistakes but blame other people for theirs.
Give other people the chance to explain themselves before judging their behavior.