The main function of System 1 is to maintain and update a model of your personal world, which represents what is normal in it. 
Consider driving your car from home to work on a quiet road. 
You understand the tasks involved, such as using your car's indicators, accelerating, decelerating and so on, but breaking down exactly what you did to reach the office safely, step-by-step is difficult. Driving your car along a familiar route is intuitive.

System 1 Thinking

System 2 thinking informs how you <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/bryancollinseurope/2018/07/10/3-ways-to-focus-on-your-work-without-interruption-backed-by-science/">focus</a> on a particular task by using expert knowledge and focusing or applying conscious effort. 
Consider driving to work and encountering an accident. This unexpected change demands you pay attention to your environment and monitor your behavior.

System 2 Thinking

If you feel a gut reaction after meeting a hire, it's probably System 1 thinking. 
But you can mitigate the risk of hiring the wrong person by engaging System 2 thinking. Check their references. Ask probing questions. Validate your gut reaction with other members of your team. 
The trick is to be aware of switching from one system to the other. It’s useful to understand when you are thinking on autopilot, when you are paying attention and what's inside your mental toolbox.

How to Use System 1 and System 2 Thinking Together

Nobel Prize winner and psychologist Daniel Kahneman wants us to consider how we make important decisions using different parts of the brain. In his book Thinking, Fast and Slow, Kahneman proposes two systems that govern how we think, and you might not even know when one of them is at work.

System 1 Thinking

Similar ideas to System 1 Thinking

System 1