Why do successful people follow such eccentrically specific habits? And why are we so keen to read about them and mimic them in our own lives?The answer lies in a powerful psychological process called ‘superstitious learning’. The brain is constantly looking for associations between two events. While it is mostly correct, it sometimes mistakes coincidence for causality – leading us to attribute success to something as arbitrary as the colour of our notebook or the number of beans in our brew, rather than our own talent or hard work.

Mimicking The Successful

By giving us a sense of self-determination, the adoption of rituals – including the completely random behaviours that we have learnt ourselves or borrowed from those we admire – can help us to overcome anxiety, and may even bring about a noticeable boost in performance.When we hear of others' triumphs, we often end up copying their habits, too, including the arbitrary rituals that they had acquired through superstitious learning - a phenomenon known as 'over-imitation'.

Positive Usages Of Imitation

Superstition is a kind of maladaptive behaviour that arises from what is normally a very good thing - the ability of the brain to predict.It seems that the brain is constantly looking for associations between our behaviour, our environment and the rewards that we seek - and quite often, it can come to the wrong conclusions.If superstitious behaviours arise as a by-product of our ability to form associations, then you would expect more superstitious people to perform better on this task.

The Problem With Rituals

<ul><li>Once rituals informed by superstitious learning exist, they can extend their influence beyond their creator.</li><li>We're conditioned to admire successful people and mimic their habits, even if some of these habits are eccentric.</li></ul>

The Problem of 'Over-Imitating'

We love to mimic the routines and rituals of the rich and famous – but they may be no more insightful than random behaviours.

Understand yourself and those around you.

psychology

Psychology

personaldevelopment

Personal Development

habits

Habits

Superstitious learning: Can 'lucky' rituals bring success?

There are many barriers that prevent you from changing your mind: ego, overconfidence, inertia, and cost.  Politicians who change their minds lose face; family and friends who change their minds are mocked. Yet, we are encouraged to change our minds. The world can’t progress and improve unless some people are willing to change their minds.  Understanding how opinions are formed can help us to get better at changing our minds.

Changing your mind comes at a cost

We get less open to novelty as we get older. In late adolescence and early adulthood, there’s a sudden craving for novelty. By the time you’re middle-aged, you’re less likely to try anything new for the rest of your life.  There are many reasons why it is easier to change your mind when younger. It could be that your brain is more plastic then, your positions are less entrenched, so it’s less costly to change them, or that the stakes are lower - the fate of the world doesn’t rest on your decisions.

It’s easier to change your mind when you're younger

People don’t just take facts, draw conclusions from them, and then base their opinions on that. They start out with an emotional commitment to a certain idea, and then use their cognitive powers to organise facts to support what they want to believe.  We tend to see the world and cherry-pick facts that support our version of the world. It takes a really big external shock that clearly proves you’re wrong to change your mind.

Changing your mind starts with an emotional commitment

When we talk about changing our minds, we should acknowledge that every situation is different.  There are many reasons why someone in your family holds a position you find objectionable. Maybe you think they’re ignoring the facts, or you feel their position lacks moral reasoning, or they find pleasure from an idea you disagree with, or simply hold the opposite position because it is the opposite.

Every situation is different 

We can be so invested in our beliefs even if we suspect they are wrong. The incorrect ideas may actually provide some benefits to us. For example, when an expert who has dedicated their career to a certain policy or line of thinking faces new information, they may feel uncomfortable disrupting a consensus.

Invested in beliefs even if they are wrong

Even in the absence of evidence, the belief that we are right can contribute to our reluctance to change our minds.  A study that surveyed over 200 managers at a British restaurant chain, who had detailed feedback about their performance every quarter, found that only 25 percent were accurate about the quintile of the performance distribution they were falling into. 47 percent of managers were overconfident about it.

Overconfidence contributes to the reluctance to change our mind

People who refuse to change their minds often have self-enhancing selective memories. They remember good outcomes and tend to forget bad ones.

Selective memories

If you’re forced to give an explanation on any strong opinion you hold, you have to really understand and even confront the fact that you might not understand.  But when you give reasons, the people you try to convince may be more interested in talking about their feeling about the subject, what they like, and what they don’t like.

Clear facts don't change minds

It’s really hard to change someone’s mind, but if you’re going to try, you should try to get them to change their own minds by asking them to assume your perspective and explain why you might be right.  <ul><li>Try to get people to step outside themselves and think about the issue from an objective perspective and disconnected from their own interests. </li><li>Ask them to explain, not reason, the nuts-and-bolts level of how something works. </li></ul>However, people often can’t explain their own reasoning. This is known as the “illusion of explanatory depth.”

How to change someone’s mind

Psychologists Rozenblit and Keil asked people how well they understood how things worked. Then they asked them to explain in as much detail as they could how it works. People struggled until they realised they couldn’t. When they were asked again how well they understood, their confidence in their understanding was lowered.  The source of the illusion is that people fail to distinguish between what they know from what others know. For example, a plumber knows how a toilet works. You know the plumber or know how to find a plumber, giving you the illusion that you know how a toilet works.

The “illusion of explanatory depth”

The solution to changing people’s minds is not to give them the necessary information. Instead, we depend on others and hold our beliefs because the people around us have those beliefs.  Even if people with opposing views have the same information, they might have different experiences in their past, different influences, and will interpret the exact same article differently depending on what their initial position was.

We are more likely to believe what other people around us believe


Well-educated people who consume a lot of information tend to hold disproportionately extreme views, possibly because they’re good at seeking out information that confirms their prior knowledge and ignoring information that might run counter.

Holding extreme views

Many people are bad at creating diverse, well-balanced networks. They struggle to listen to opposite voices and change their minds. One reason is that we are hardwired to divide the world into "us" and "them's." And not to be like the "them's". <ul><li>Studies show that the best way to turn "them's" into "us's" is to take somebody else's perspective. Try to go through what somebody else's rationalisations are. </li><li>Individuate somebody. Do they like the same pets you do? Do they love their kids like you or sing lullabies to them?</li><li>Give people enough contact around a shared goal, and they'll turn into "us's".</li></ul>

The antidote to inflexible thinking is balance

There are a lot of barriers to changing your mind: ego, overconfidence, inertia — and cost. Politicians who flip-flop get mocked; family and friends who cross tribal borders are shunned. But shouldn’t we be encouraging people to change their minds? And how can we get better at it ourselves?

podcasts

Podcasts

Freakonomics co-author Stephen J. Dubner uncovers the hidden side of everything. Why is it safer to fly in an airplane than drive a car? How do we decide whom to marry? Why is the media so full of bad news? Also: things you never knew you wanted to know about wolves, bananas, pollution, search engines, and the quirks of human behavior.

Freakonomics Radio

How to Change Your Mind (Ep. 379 Update)

People's confidence usually matches their ability and the situation. If they're under-confident, they may not take on opportunities that could benefit them. If they're over-confident, they may agree to things when they're out of their depth. As a manager, you should pay attention to the confidence displayed by your direct reports. When they seem overconfident, it's beneficial to help them recognise the reason why they should temper their enthusiasm.

Over- and under-confidence

People often show overconfidence when unaware of how a situation can lead to bad outcomes, even in cases that may seem simple. For example, a client may be considering multiple offers you are unaware of, a competitor may be working on a similar product, or the market may take a downturn just as your company prepares for an IPO. If you’re working with someone who does not recognize the difficulties that situations can cause, it’s important to increase their awareness of some factors beyond their control.

Under-appreciation of the situation

Some people believe they're more highly skilled than they really are. They often fail to appreciate the complexity of expert performance, which adds to their overconfidence.  One way to help is to work with your team on hypothetical situations so that they can get a glimpse of what they still need to learn. You should be explicit about what aspects of their performance they need to improve without undermining their confidence.

Over-appreciation of skills

Overconfidence can lead to arrogance. Arrogant people value their own opinions, skills, and knowledge over that of other people. It can be helpful to talk with these team members about their respect for others in the organization. Reflect on some of their words and actions to help them see how they come across to others. It can also be helpful to point out great things that other people in the organization have done to reinforce the expertise of colleagues.

Lack of recognition of other people's skills

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Career

communication

Communication

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Leadership & Management

How to manage someone overconfident

<ol><li>Stock the fridge</li><li>Have a food gift strategy</li><li>Don’t skip breakfast</li><li>Start with a drink ... of water, that is</li><li>Be smart about appetizers</li><li>Survey the buffet</li><li>Eat your veggies first at your meal</li><li>Make some simple swaps</li><li>Take a walk between dinner and dessert</li></ol>

These are the 9 Tips on Healthy Eating for the Holidays

It’s true that the holiday season and tempting treats go hand in hand, but you probably won’t be faced with them every day. If you have plenty of healthy ingredients—vegetables, whole grains, beans, and fruit—you’ll have an easier time making your meals extra-healthy. That will help offset those gingerbread cookies or that slice of pumpkin pie.

1. Stock the fridge

You don’t have to immediately eat all the cookies, breads, and chocolates that friends and neighbors deliver during the holiday season. Many goodies freeze well, so you can enjoy them over the next few months rather than the next few days:<ul><li>If possible, divide the treats into individual portions so that you only defrost as many servings as you need.</li></ul>

2. Have a food gift strategy

It’s a common practice to skip early meals on a big day of eating, fasting in advance of the dinner ahead. But this approach has a high probability of backfiring; people often end up overeating later. Instead, opt for a sensible morning meal—say, oatmeal, yogurt, and a piece of fruit—and if your celebration is in the evening, eat a light lunch midday. The last thing you want is to show up to dinner starving.

3. Don’t skip breakfast

Your brain sometimes has trouble distinguishing thirst from hunger, so at parties and holiday dinners, sip a glass of water before you have a cocktail or eat anything. And if you do drink alcohol, stick to one or two, sipping a glass of seltzer between each one. That will keep you hydrated and slow your intake. Or try a spritzer: Mix half red or white wine and half seltzer or club soda in a glass. Add a slice of lime and you have a festive drink with half the calories and alcohol.

4. Start with a drink ... of water, that is.

At cocktail parties, stick to three or so items (or six if the appetizers are doubling as dinner) to keep calories in check. Skip the fried foods and go for items like shrimp cocktail, vegetable-stuffed mushrooms, or hummus and veggies. Before holiday meals, go easy on the munchies.Do you really need to eat 5 ounces of cheese and then sit down to dinner? If you’re the host, you have more control over what’s being served, so try putting out something small and healthy—such as nuts, olives, or a crudités platter—for people to nibble on with drinks

5. Be smart about appetizers

Many holiday meals are served buffet style, with a variety of dishes on offer. The typical advice is to have a little taste of everything, but there’s some research that shows this can leave you feeling less satisfied. When you’re exposed to too many different flavors in a meal, you don’t feel as full as quickly, and you eat more. My tactic is to choose two or three favorite foods, especially those I don’t get to enjoy year-round. Food is so much a part of the season; this way the meal feels special and I don’t feel as though I’m missing out.

6. Survey the buffet

You’ll fill up on foods that are packed with vitamins and minerals and lower in calories, leaving less room for less unhealthy stuff. It doesn’t need to be boring, though. For instance, if dinner is at your house, try making the first course a festive seasonal salad, with goodies like pomegranate seeds, clementines, toasted nuts, and candied citrus peels mixed in with the leafy greens.

7. Eat your veggies first at your meal

There are all sorts of ways to insert healthier ingredients into your meal without sacrificing much by way of flavor. <ul><li>For example, use balsamic vinegar and olive oil instead of store-bought dressing, which is often high in sodium. </li><li>Yogurt can replace sour cream in creamy dips or on baked potatoes. Blend cauliflower into your mashed potatoes. Have stuffing or a roll and butter—but not both.</li></ul>

8. Make some simple swaps

For some families (mine included), this is a holiday tradition. It’s a nice way to bond with relatives and helps you sneak in some activity. But it also does more. It takes some time for the brain to recognize how much you’ve eaten. If you go straight from the meal to dessert, you may not realize how full you actually are—and you’ll probably enjoy dessert more if you aren’t completely stuffed.

9. Take a walk between dinner and dessert

You don’t want to make food the enemy, but it’s good to play a little dietary defense.

health

Health

loveandrelationships

Love & Relationships

9 Tips on Healthy Eating for the Holidays

It would motivate me for work I have done by clicking on it and algorithms in <a href="https://medium.com/@hackedongrowth/5-ways-to-prevent-business-failure-2022-7467ae903613">Medium</a>

Follow Me

When most individuals hear the words “self-care,” they think of finding a way to relax. It is true that self-care can involve a relaxing session.Plan an at-home spa day, apply a face mask, meditate, or get a manicure to practice self-care. On the other hand, not everyone finds the same things calming.

Relax on purpose 

One personal area is not for everyone. You cannot accomplish everything, and it is acceptable to say “no.” Boundaries exist to keep you safe, not to keep people out.You can only help your family and friends if you have the energy to do it. Know your limitations and treat your time and energy as if they were sacred — because they are.

Create "my hour"

Excellence is not a skill, it's an attitude.

What’s up, it’s @hackedongrowth here, Self-care frequently takes a backseat when stress strikes. The power to care for oneself depends on one’s ability to go within and listen to what is there with open, loving ears regularly.

clear your mind,mental health,mindset growth,self confident entrepreneur,

timemanagement

Time Management

As an entrepreneur, you must make time for self-care (2022)

Businesses that handle money — companies that manage money or assets. Banks, financial institutions, brokerage firms, and insurance businesses are examples of loan associations.Because there is a lot of “money in money,” all of these companies are extremely affluent.

 Financial Services 

You’ve heard of Google, Facebook, and Apple, but let’s speak about what’s next. Consider what conventional businesses you can enter utilizing technology.A firm that you may start in order to affect technology. They are referred to as disruptors. Some businesses are real disruptors, which is not always a negative thing.

New Tech

The healthcare sector covers a broad range of professions. How? People are eager to pay lots of money in order to stay alive more.So by healthcare, I mean anything from assisted living to elder homes to pharmaceuticals to any items and services that help people can live a long and healthy life.

Healthcare 

It would motivate me for work I have done by clicking on it and algorithms in Medium

Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.

What’s up, it’s @hackedongrowth here, Have you ever considered what successful individuals must possess? Have you ever wondered how a great mind works or how they genuinely think?

What’s up, it’s @hackedongrowth here, Have you ever considered what successful individuals must possess? Have you ever wondered how a great mind works or how they genuinely think? This allows me to…

Industries That Produce Most Millionaires? (2021)

Journey matters more then your goal.6 tips for focusing on the journey

Success Is A Journey Not A Destination.

With both your overall goal and your roadmap for getting there, it's important to be specific. Be specific in your action plan of how you are going to achieve them.

1: Get Specific 

The best way to get gradually to your overarching goal is to break your goals into mini goals and mini milestones. You can't rely on motivation alone.

2: Break It Down And Start Small

What distracts you on day-to-day basis? What is holding you back?Brainstorm some ideas, how you can get around your most frequent distraction and triggers, come up with some tactics to get yourself back on track if you lose your way.

3: Figure Out Your Blockers

You have to work to keep journey in your mind. Actively thinking about it and reflecting on your motivations everyday will remind you of why you started in the first place.

4:Reflect Daily

Maximizing productivity it is crucial to take breaks as is to working hard. Knowing when to step out of the flow to regroup and recharge can also give you bump to your effectiveness.

5: Carve Out Time

When you have big goal, It's tempting to think that you haven't succeeded until you achieved it. That anything short is failure, but this over looks the progress and accomplishments along the way. The point is not to get better than others, It's to get better than the old version of yourself.

6: Celebrate The Progress And Enjoy The Journey.

When It's not all about goal, you can take it all in( take what you have learned with you) If you reach your goal but then go back to your old ways, have you really gotten anything out of the experience.

Ergo Journey Matters More Than Any Goal Ever Could. 

While having those big goals is nice, it’s better to focus on the journey and take concrete steps toward improving your life and daily habits right away.

Why the Journey Matters More Than Your Goal

One thing at a time: When you walk, just walk, and appreciate each step. When you do something online, do one thing at a time, as fully as you can. This is such a simple approach but we forget it so often.

One thing at a time: 

In between meetings and tasks, take a breath. Let yourself have some space, some downtime. Even if it’s just a few minutes, savor this delicious space.

Put space between things

Clean as you go: Put away your clothes when you take them off. Wash your dishes after you eat or cook. Wipe the counter. Tidy up after yourself. This can apply to everything — reply to that email, clean up your downloads folder, don’t have a million tabs open all the time. Simple thing, but really underappreciated by most people. Not letting things pile up is such a wonderful way to live life on easy mode.

Clean as you go: 

Do less: You don’t need to do less in order to live life on easy mode. But it can be really nice! Reduce how much you’re trying to get done during the day. This can take some time to transition towards, including renegotiating commitments with people or training people to do things for themselves..

Do less: 

I don’t mean all the time. But every 30-45 minutes, get up and move. Stretch, do a few yoga poses, walk outside for a few minutes, do some bodyweight exercises. Once a day, do more than that: go for a longer walk, go on a bike ride, do a workout, play a sport, do a yoga routine or bodyweight exercises. Rest some days if you’re sore or tired, of course. This kind of movement throughout the day makes your body feel vibrantly healthy and at ease in the long run.

Move often:

A lot of time, we can get stopped by overwhelm. It’s natural to feel overwhelmed when we’re face with a lot of tasks/decisions. Life on easy mode means just picking one thing off the pile and focusing on that. Then the next thing off the pile. Take a breath, and focus on one thing.

When you’re overwhelmed, take small steps:

We overcomplicate things. What’s the simplest way you can approach the things you have in front of you? How can you make decisions with ease, instead of overthinking it? Be straightforward in your communication — say what you want. Don’t add extra meaning to things, extra layers of suffering. Live simply in every interaction and task.

Do things as simply as possible:

If you like these ideas, kindly follow my DeepStash profile for more such ideas :<a href="https://deepstash.com/u/maaz.zulf">https://deepstash.com/u/maaz.zulf</a>You can also buy me a coffee to support my work:<a href="https://www.buymeacoffee.com/maazzulf">Buymeacoffee.com/maazzulf</a>Thanks.

You don’t have to do anything different to live life on this easy mode. That said, here are some things I’ve found to make life so much easier — there might be a lot here, but think of these as ideas you might try one at a time:

mentalhealth

Mental Health

How to Put Life on Easy Mode - zen habits

In geochronology, an epoch is a subdivision of the geologic timescale that is longer than an age and shorter than a period. We are currently living in the Holocene Epoch of the Quaternary Period. Rock layers deposited during an epoch are called a series.

What time period are we in?

history

History

scienceandnature

Science & Nature

Geologic time scale - Wikipedia

Psychological safety plays a key role in fostering innovation and collaborative group dynamics where all team members feel comfortable being themselves.psychological safety at workIn psychologically safe teams, employees feel accepted and respected. Psychological safety also helps foster a more inclusive work environment, which opens the door to greater creativity, innovation, and increased employee retention.

7 keys to create psychological safety at work

A team climate characterized by interpersonal trust and mutual respect in which people are comfortable being themselves. Here are five dynamics for high-functioning teams:<ul><li>Dependability: Workers count on one another to do high-quality work.</li><li>Structure & clarity: Roles, goals, and execution plans for the team are clear.</li><li>Meaning of work: Workers are doing something that is personally important to each of them.</li><li>Impact of work: Workers believe the work they’re doing matters.</li><li>Psychological safety: Workers can take risks on the team without feeling insecure or embarrassed.</li></ul>

What is psychological safety?

1. Inclusion safety: Members feel accepted as a part of the team – they’re wanted, appreciated, and don’t feel excluded from the group.2. Learner safety: Team members are able to ask questions, experiment, make mistakes, admit when they make mistakes, and even ask for help.3. Contributor safety: Members feel safe to offer their own ideas without fear of embarrassment or ridicule. They’re adding value to the team and making a difference.4. Challenger safety: Group members can question others (including those in authority) and suggest significant changes to ideas, plans, or processes.

The four stages of psychological safety

It’s clear that organizations seeking to empower their people and improve performance should be focusing on psychological safety, but what does that look like in action? Learning and development teams can help cultivate psychological safety at work by taking the following 7 steps.

Keys to cultivating psychological safety at work

Allowing employees to be their authentic selves at work helps break down barriers toward the first stage of psychological safety – inclusion safety.To ensure that all members of a team feel like they belong:<ul><li>Equip leaders to promote inclusive workplace practices and learn the six Cs of inclusive leadership.</li><li>Facilitate open conversations during learning programs where employees can share their authentic perspectives.</li><li>Train recruiters and hiring managers to identify and manage their own implicit biases.</li><li>Monitor inclusion within their organizations using Gartner’s seven key dimensions.</li></ul>

1. Foster inclusivity

Honest, fair feedback is a core tenet of a psychologically safe workplace. As workers progress through the learner safety stage of psychological safety, they need to be able to learn from their peers and admit mistakes, all in the spirit of learning and growth – without the threat of demerits or performance documentation.To help create a culture in which this is encouraged, offer training programs that teach employees how to give feedback appropriately and why it’s important to do so.

2. Create a feedback-driven culture

A positive team climate is defined as an environment where team members value one another’s contributions, care about one another’s well-being, and have input on how the team carries out its work.Leaders are responsible for setting the tone for this type of climate through their actions and more specifically, their leadership techniques.A positive team climate is an environment where team members value one another’s contributions, care about one another’s well-being, and have input on how the team carries out its work.

3. Leverage leadership

Offering employees lessons on emotional intelligence can directly impact levels of psychological safety at work. Emotional intelligence training includes topics such as how to sense the emotional states of team members and build positive working relationships.

4. Build emotional intelligence 

Humans have been hardwired to process challenges by a boss, co-worker, or subordinate as a life-or-death threat.Because of these evolutionary responses, challenger safety is perhaps the most difficult stage to reach on the path to psychological safety. But building trust can counteract this challenge.Trust can either be a roadblock or a highway, but demystifying trust is a key step in building it. Teams should talk openly about specific actions that can help members trust one another more – such as transparency around daily tasks or timeliness when turning projects in.

5. Increase trust

It’s important to continue monitoring psychological safety at work as it does evolve over time. Here are a set of questions to measure psychological safety among work teams.<ul><li>If you make a mistake on your team, is it held against you?</li><li>Are you able to bring up problems and tough issues?</li><li>Do people on the team sometimes reject others for being different?</li><li>Is it safe to take a risk?</li><li>Is it difficult to ask other team members for help?</li><li>Do people on the team deliberately act to undermine your efforts?</li><li>Are your unique skills and talents valued and utilized?</li></ul>

6. Measure psychological safety

Virtual interactions can be more beneficial than we realize for creating psychological safety.Although screens can make it harder to read body language, they can also help employees practice active listening during calls. In person, it can be socially awkward to make eye contact for long periods of time. Video calls remove this barrier, so team members might be able to pick up on social and emotional cues more, and better understand what the speaker is saying as a result.

7. Be intentional when remote

Studies have shown that organizations which cultivate a growth mindset – one where it’s okay to fail – have happier employees and more innovative cultures. Supervisors in such organizations rate their teams as more collaborative as well.Building psychological safety at work comes naturally in this sort of culture. Teams can work with leaders to establish these norms. Organizations that put psychological safety first in these ways will be the ones that thrive.

Final note

“While good leaders care about business impact, great leaders focus more on psychological impact”-Narayanan Palani

Psychological Safety Quote

7 Keys to Create Psychological Safety at Work

Organizations seeking to empower their people and improve performance should focus on cultivating psychological safety at work.

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Remote Work

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Corporate Culture

teamwork

Teamwork

Find  Self Improvement Tips - Curated from popular Books like Atomic Habits, 48 Rules of Power, Deep Work, Rich Dad Poor Dad and way more!