“Real knowledge is to know the extent of one&#39;s ignorance.”

It’s a type of cognitive bias whereby people who are incompetent at something are unable to recognize their own incompetence in it. This is why a person, despite his lack of knowledge or experience in a specific domain, can still think he’s amazing at it.

The Dunning-Kruger Effect

“Develop into a lifelong self-learner through voracious reading; cultivate curiosity and strive to become a little wiser every day.”

You are a student of life for life. Your knowledge is expanding, but so is your ignorance, for as you continue to learn, there will always be so much more for you to further explore.&nbsp;Why you should create your own map:<ul><li>It helps you identify your knowledge gaps in the areas that actually matter to you.&nbsp;</li><li>It highlights your strengths. The closer you are to mastery, the more strengths you have in the specific area of discussion.</li><li>It gives you a holistic view of where you stand today so you can phase out the steps for what’s ahead.&nbsp;</li></ul>

The Expanding Map of Knowledge and Ignorance

"The scientific revolution has not been a revolution of knowledge. It has been above all a revolution of ignorance. The greatest discovery that launched the scientific revolution was the discovery that humans do not know the answers to their most important questions."

You become wiser as you embrace your own ignorance and diminish that gap, 
as you develop yourself into a lifelong self-learner, and as you begin to 
see yourself as a student of life for life. And how do you do that? You 
create your own map of knowledge and ignorance. Create your own map, fill 
its empty spaces with all the knowledge of what you know, and identify all 
that you don’t.

Stashed ideas

The Expanding Map of Knowledge and Ignorance (And Why You Should Create Your Own)

Centuries ago, two Italian explores set sail out into the open ocean.

One became incredibly famous. His name, until today, is prized on a global front. The other was—and still is —relatively unknown, even though two entire continents were named in his honor.

What happened? And how did it come to be so?

The story trickles down to a game of mindsets.

On August 3rd, 1492, Christopher Columbus sailed westward from Spain, heading toward Japan, with a mission to seek a new trade route to East Asia. But after more than two months at sea, he and his crew landed on an island in the Bahamas, in the Caribbean.

The Italian explorer thought he had reached an island off the coast of East Asia because the map that he was using, a 1491 map of the world which was created by German cartographer Henricus Martellus, told him so.

Of course, he was wrong, but adamant in his belief that they had arrived at their intended destination, Columbus called the people he found there ‘Indians.’ That’s because he was under the impression that he had landed in the Indies—what in the modern world is known as the Indonesian Archipelago.

What Columbus didn’t know, however, was that the map he was using showed the entire world as it was known to the 15th century Europeans at the time. The problem with this map? It had no empty spaces. No gaps. No room for errors and unknowns. It gave the impression that the Europeans had garnered a complete familiarity with the entire world—even though they had yet to set foot in some areas like the pacific ocean.

The 1491 Martellus Map. The map is full of details, even in areas such as the Pacific Ocean that were yet to be explored by the Europeans at the time. <a dir="ltr" href="https://www.wired.com/2014/09/martellus-map/">Source </a>.

Another problem with this map? It left out two entirely unknown continents that sit across the Pacific Ocean between East Asia and Spain. Two lands that are known today, as North America and South America.

But as more and more explores began to sail out on expeditions from Europe to America, somewhere between 1499 and 1504, Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci published texts arguing the possibility that the new lands that had been discovered by Columbus were not islands off the East Asian coast. Rather, they were lands that formed an entire continent still unknown to Scriptures and geographers at the time.

So in 1507, convinced by Amerigo’s arguments and using his letters as a guide, German mapmaker Martin Waldseemüller drew a new map and named the territory in Amerigo’s honor—America .

Columbus, the man who actually discovered the Americas, was convinced that he knew the whole world. In his refusal to even consider his potential ignorance, he failed to spark his curiosity to consider other alternatives.

Hence, the little-known sailor who had the courage to say ‘hold on, we might be wrong, there’s a lot that we don’t know here,’ was gifted the honor of having two of the seven continents on earth named after him.

The Salviati World Map, 1525. It shows what had already been discovered—Europe, Asia, Africa—and most recently at the time: The Americas. The map is mostly empty but expands into the emptiness to depict what is yet to come. In a way, it signifies a mental shift in the European explores at the time—they embraced their ignorance and learned that they still have much to discover and explore. <a dir="ltr" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salviati_Planisphere">Source </a>.

A few years ago, I used to act in a way that projected total arrogance—as if to indicate to myself and people around me that I knew it all. Like I had it all figured out for myself. But it only took me a few months into my first ever entrepreneurial venture to realize this: I know nothing.

Like stripping off a dark-colored veil that was diluting your view, I decided to strip myself bare of this self-constructed ego. I stepped out of the cloud and I saw the light.

That’s when I learned about the Dunning-Kruger Effect. It’s a type of cognitive bias whereby people who are incompetent at something are unable to recognize their own incompetence in it. This is why a person, despite his lack of knowledge or experience in a specific domain, can still think he’s amazing at it.

That’s also when <a dir="ltr" href="https://medium.com/mind-cafe/7-mindful-quotes-by-confucius-that-will-change-the-way-you-think-977a095488cc?sk=33fcf016236768209c795efa5bf511c8&amp;source=friends_link">I landed upon the words of Confucius </a>, the ancient Chinese philosopher, who once wrote:

“Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance.”

And that’s precisely when I embraced a new philosophy in my life, <a dir="ltr" href="https://medium.com/the-ascent/5-timeless-philosophies-that-are-drastically-improving-my-life-728a938557d?sk=df16840f7d748552c96e86f588312ea7&amp;source=friends_link">one that I continue to live by today </a>: I am a student of life, for life.

I became <a dir="ltr" href="https://www.omaritani.com/blog/craftsman-skill-mastery">the craftsman seeking mastery </a>in his craft.

I learned how to embrace my ignorance rather than blindly shun it away. I learned how to say “I don’t know,” instead of pretentiously posing and acting as if I do. And that changed everything for me. I became a ferocious reader and self-learner. I began to lean into my curiosity, expand my knowledge, and <a dir="ltr" href="https://www.omaritani.com/blog/cultivate-your-own-garden">cultivate my mind’s garden </a>.

Charlie Munger, Warren Buffet’s business partner sums it up well in his book, The Complete Investor when he writes:

“Develop into a lifelong self-learner through voracious reading; cultivate curiosity and strive to become a little wiser every day.”

Just as how the universe is always expanding, so should you in your well of knowledge. Because wisdom doesn’t come with age, it crowns itself as you continue to cultivate your own curiosity—as you continue to seek new experiences, expand your knowledge, and learn new things.

You become wiser as you embrace your own ignorance and diminish that gap, as you develop yourself into a lifelong self-learner, and as you begin to see yourself as a student of life for life.

You create your own map of knowledge and ignorance.

Draw a Map with Spaces Left to Fill in, Load it with Knowledge of What You Know, and Then Seek out What You Don’t

In his book Sapiens , author Yuval Noah Harari explains that after Amerigo Vespucci’s texts and Martin Waldseemüller’s newly-developed map, “European geographers and scholars in almost all other fields of knowledge began to draw maps with spaces left to fill in. They began to admit that their theories were not perfect and that there were important things that they did not know.”

It was this discovery that prompted me to sketch out my own map of ignorance and knowledge, with spaces left to fill in. It’s a map that highlights the areas of knowledge, expertise, and capabilities I’m confident in while also shedding light on the areas that I want to further seek, explore, and discover.

At its core, it’s a simple visual representation of all that you know and all that you don’t. It serves to remind you that you are a student of life for life. That indeed, your knowledge is expanding, but so is your ignorance, for as you continue to learn, there will always be so much more for you to further explore. Hence, I named it The Expanding Map of Knowledge and Ignorance.

The green shaded area represents what you know. The blue shaded area represents what you don’t—your ocean of opportunity. And the scale of mastery to ignorance drawn below signifies the extent of your knowledge.

Truth is, it’s rare to exceed a level of mastery in more than one or two fields of knowledge. That’s because mastery takes years upon years of practice and compounding knowledge.

It’s obvious, however, that our ocean of ignorance will be both, far more extreme and far larger than our forest of knowledge. The good news, though? It’s thatthe map is always expanding— which means that greenery spreads as you feed it with more knowledge.

So here’s why I think you should create your own map:

<ol><li>It helps you identify your knowledge gaps in the areas that actually matter to you. What I loved most about this exercise is that it revealed to me the areas of my interest and gave me a chance to evaluate my own expertise in them. I didn’t think of adding “programming” or “furniture design” to what I don’t know because these topics don’t interest me as much as “space” or “yogic philosophy” or “emotional intelligence.” </li><li>It highlights your strengths. The closer you are to mastery, the more strengths you have in the specific area of discussion. </li><li>It helps you understand yourself better by identifying the fields you wish to master and the ones you want to further improve upon or explore next. It gives you a holistic view of where you stand today so you can phase out the steps for what’s ahead. </li> </ol>

There are two more things to note:

<ul><li>You can theme your maps. For instance, you can have an entire map focused on building an online coaching practice: List out all the areas within that domain that you know well, and all the areas that you know you must learn, improve upon, or maybe even outsource. </li><li>There’s nothing fixed about this map . The elements are always changing. So, over time, as you delve deeper into the topics on the ignorance end, they will naturally shift into the “what I know” side. </li> </ul>

"The scientific revolution has not been a revolution of knowledge. It has been above all a revolution of ignorance. The greatest discovery that launched the scientific revolution was the discovery that humans do not know the answers to their most important questions."

That’s what author Yuval Noah Harari wrote in his book, Sapiens .

There’s a plethora of knowledge waiting for you to be discovered. The way to tap into that is to ignite your personal revolution of ignorance. Kindle that flame and let it burn. Pick up a pen and create your own map. Fill its empty spaces with all the knowledge of what you know and identify all that you don’t. All that you wish to learn and explore. And all the ideas you’re interested in and curious about.

In doing so, we remind ourselves that our ideas are not complete. That our ignorance is present and blissful. And that <a dir="ltr" href="https://www.omaritani.com/blog/student-of-life-philosophy">we are students of life for life </a>.

The Expanding Map of Knowledge and Ignorance (And Why You Should Create Your Own) — OMAR ITANI

Passive reading is when we read for pleasure and get lost in the book, enjoying the complete experience. This is applied in fictional works. Acquiring knowledge demands a different way to read: Active reading.
Great books require time and attention, needing to be chewed and digested properly for an in-depth understanding.

Active And Passive Reading

Problem Solving

“The reading of all good books is like conversation with the finest men of past centuries.”

There is an even more active, complex and profound way to read: Analytical Reading.
It involves questioning the text you read, highlighting key points, taking notes, summarizing or curating key ideas, and thinking deeply about what the author is trying to say.

Acquiring Knowledge Using Analytical Reading

Reading helps us connect existing thought patterns and upgrade our mental models.
To read deeply and critically, we have to engage with the written text differently:
<ol>
<li>Read slowly, making each page a learning process.</li>
<li>Take notes, preferably using a pen and paper.</li>
<li>Try to explain the main idea in a notebook, asking critical questions and raising doubts.</li>
<li>Teach the content to others, summarizing the book lessons in a presentable format. If we can explain it in simple language, we must have understood it well.</li>
<li>Choose the books carefully.</li>
</ol>

How To Read Analytically

If you are reading for pleasure, you want to enjoy the experience, lose yourself in the book and follow the journey with the author. I’m not good at that. I don’t read a lot of non-fiction books. I…

Reading is one of the best ways to gain knowledge.

There are two ways to read — active reading and passive reading.

If you are reading for pleasure, you want to enjoy the experience, lose yourself in the book and follow the journey with the author.

I’m not good at that. I don’t read a lot of non-fiction books. I am very selective, so I end up with few books.

If you want to acquire new knowledge, the process should be completely different. You want to be able to remember and apply what you are learning. So it pays to read critically.

I use this process to learn new topics. It takes time, but it’s worth it. Knowledge is the power to; think independently, think clearly and make informed decisions.

Great books teach timeless and valuable lessons, so I prefer to read them slowly and critically — the aim is always to understand deeper.

Analytical reading is a better approach to acquire new knowledge.

“Some books should be tasted, some devoured, but only a few should be chewed and digested thoroughly.” Sir Francis Bacon said.

Critical or analytical reading is a more active, conscious, more profound and complex way to engage with the content.

When you read critically, you start with an open mind but tend to question the knowledge. You ask questions, highlight key points, take notes, underline important ideas, think deeper about every idea the author is trying to explain.

To think deeper and critically about your new information, you have to engage with the material differently.

Critical reading is essential because you are reading to understand. And you can’t deeply understand the topic if you don’t ask questions, raise objections analyse the evidence and reflect thoughtfully.

Read slowly. You can understand better if you don’t hurry the process. Try not to skim the book. Each paper should be a learning process. By slowing down, you can find the best ideas and connect with the content better.

Don’t forget to take notes. It’s an essential process of the learning experience. A paper notebook is a better option, but you could also use your favourite note-taking app.

Explain the main ideas in your notebook. Your interpretation of the ideas can help you remember quicker. You can use your highlights and underlined text to write your summary.

Writing is also a way to ask questions, raise doubts and think critically about ideas. Jot down your interpretation of each chapter.

What’re the big lessons? Is it explained clearly? Does the author support the ideas with evidence or facts? Are the assumptions supported?

Note all the questions you may have. Write down essential questions that can help you dig deeper or explore other books to understand better.

“Reading furnishes the mind only with materials of knowledge; it is thinking that makes what we read ours.” John Locke said.

Share your opinion with others. Teaching is also one of the best ways to learn. Share your comprehensive notes with your audience. You could use the opportunity to summarise the book and publish it.

It’s a way to understand the content better. Albert Einstein once said, “If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.”

Writing is also a great way to “reorganise your thoughts, prior knowledge and understanding to accommodate new ideas or viewpoints,” <a dir="ltr" href="https://www.skillsyouneed.com/learn/critical-reading.html" rel="noopener nofollow">writes </a>SkillsYouNeed.

By building the habit of critical reading, you will improve your analytical reading skills and explore even more ideas you come across. Your wealth of knowledge will expand exponentially over time.

A lot of books will influence you if you are a voracious reader. So, choose your books carefully.

Reading stimulates the brain and helps you connect existing ideas, challenge your assumptions and upgrade mental models.

If You Are Reading to Acquire Knowledge, Learn to Read Analytically

&nbsp;... is the ability to regulate and alter responses in order to avoid undesirable behaviors, increase desirable ones, and achieve long-term goals.

Self-Control

<ul><li>A 2011 survey found that 27 % of respondents identified a lack of willpower as the primary factor keeping them from reaching their goals.&nbsp;</li><li>One study found that students who exhibited greater self-discipline had better grades, higher test scores, and were more likely to be admitted to a competitive academic program.&nbsp;</li><li>The study also found that when it came to academic success, self-control was a more important factor than IQ scores.</li><li>A health study found that people who were rated as having high levels of self-control during childhood continued to have high levels of physical and mental health in adulthood.</li><li>Research has found that self-control is a limited resource. In the long-term, exercising self-control tends to strengthen it.&nbsp; </li></ul>

Research on Self-Control

A lack of willpower is not the only factor that affects goal attainment.<ul><li>There needs to be a clear goal and the motivation to change.&nbsp;Having an unclear or overly general goal and insufficient motivation can lead to failure.</li><li>You need to monitor your actions daily towards the achievement of the goal.</li><li>You need to have willpower.</li></ul>

Motivation and Monitoring

<ul><li>Avoid temptation.&nbsp;</li><li>Plan ahead.&nbsp;If you are faced with temptation, what actions will you take to avoid giving in?&nbsp;</li><li>Practice using self-control.&nbsp;Think of self-control as a muscle. While hard work may exhaust the muscle in the short-term, the muscle will grow stronger over time as you continue to work it.</li><li>Try focusing on one goal at a time. Once you turn the behaviors needed to reach a goal into habits, you will not need to devote as much effort toward maintaining them.&nbsp;</li></ul>

Improving Self-Control

Self-control is the ability to regulate and alter responses in order to avoid undesirable behaviors, increase desirable ones, and achieve long-term goals. Research has shown that possessing self-control can be important for health and well-being. Common goals such as losing weight, exercising regularly, eating healthy, not procrastinating, giving up bad habits, and saving money are just a few worthwhile ambitions that people believe require self-control.

Self-control is the ability to regulate and alter responses in order to avoid undesirable behaviors, increase desirable ones, and achieve long-term goals. Research has shown that possessing self-control can be important for health and well-being. Common goals such as losing weight, exercising regularly, eating healthy, not procrastinating, giving up bad habits, and saving money are just a few worthwhile ambitions that people believe require self-control.

People often use a variety of terms for self-control, including discipline, determination, grit, <a href="https://www.verywellmind.com/willpower-101-the-psychology-of-self-control-2795041">willpower </a>, and fortitude. Psychologists typically define self-control as: <ul><li>The ability to control behaviors in order to avoid temptations and to achieve goals </li><li>The ability to delay gratification and resist unwanted behaviors or urges </li><li>A limited resource that can be depleted </li> </ul>How important is self-control in your day-to-day life? One 2011 survey conducted by the American Psychological Association found that 27 percent of respondents identified a lack of willpower as the primary factor keeping them from reaching their goals.

Whether your goal is to lose weight, earn a college degree, or quit smoking, it is easy to believe that achieving a goal is simply a matter of controlling your behaviors. The majority of people surveyed believe that self-control can be both learned and strengthened. Researchers have also identified a number of different factors and strategies that can help people improve their self-control.

Researchers have found that people who have better self-control tend to be healthier and happier. In <a href="https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315175775-5">one experiment </a>, students who exhibited greater self-discipline had better grades, higher test scores, and were more likely to be admitted to a competitive academic program. The study also found that when it came to academic success, self-control was a more important factor than IQ scores.

The benefits of self-control are not limited to academic performance. One long-term health study found that people who were rated as having high levels of self-control during childhood continued to have high levels of physical and mental health in adulthood. The ability to <a href="https://www.verywellmind.com/delayed-gratification-why-wait-for-what-you-want-2795429">delay gratification </a>, or to wait to get what you want, is an important part of self-control. People are often able to control their behavior by delaying the gratification of their urges. For instance, a person following a specific diet might try to avoid the temptations of indulging in unhealthy foods. This individual delays their gratification and waits until they are able to enjoy an occasional treat.

Delaying gratification involves putting off short-term desires in favor of long-term rewards. Researchers have found that the ability to delay gratification is important not only for attaining goals but also plays an important part in well-being and overall success in life. The Marshmallow Test The psychologist Walter Mischel conducted a series of famous experiments during the 1970s that investigated the importance of delayed gratification. In these experiments, children were offered a choice: they could choose to eat one treat right away (usually a cookie or a marshmallow) or they could wait a brief period of time in order to get two snacks. At this point, the researcher would leave the child alone in a room with a single treat.

Not surprisingly, many of the kids chose to eat the single treat the moment the experimenters left the room. However, some of the kids were able to wait for the second treat. Researchers found that children who were able to delay gratification in order to receive a greater reward were also more likely to have better academic performance than the kids who gave in to temptation immediately. The "Hot-and-Cool" System

Based on his research, Mischel proposed what he referred to as a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295x.106.1.3">"hot-and-cool" system </a>to explain the ability to delay gratification. The hot system refers to the part of our willpower that is emotional, impulsive, and urges us to act upon our desires. When this system takes over, we may give in to our momentary desires and act rashly without considering the potential long-term effects.

The cool system is the part of our willpower that is rational, thoughtful, and enables us to consider the consequences of our actions in order to resist our impulses. The cool system helps us look for ways to distract us from our urges and find more appropriate ways to deal with our desires.

Research has found that self-control is a limited resource. In the long-term, exercising self-control tends to strengthen it. Practicing self-control allows you to improve it over time. However, self-control in the short-term is limited. Focusing all of your self-control on one thing makes it more difficult to exercise your self-control on subsequent tasks throughout your day.

Psychologists refer to this tendency as ego depletion. This happens when people use up their reservoir of willpower on one task, making them unable to muster any self-control to complete the next task. Self-control is also important for maintaining healthy behaviors. What you eat for breakfast, how often you work out, and whether you go to the doctor regularly are all decisions that are impacted by your levels of self-control and have the potential to affect your health. Researchers have found that self-control can have a number of potential influences on health and well-being:

<ul><li>In <a href="https://doi.org/10.1001/archpediatrics.2010.97">one study </a>, children who had higher levels of self-control were less likely to become overweight during adolescence. </li><li><a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9280.00250">Another study </a>found that participants who had depleted their willpower on an unrelated task were more likely to give in to temptation when later presented with a treat. </li><li>Studies <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/a0021958">have also shown </a>that kids who struggle with self-control during childhood are also more likely to use drugs and alcohol in high school. </li> </ul>

While it is clear that self-control is critical for maintaining healthy behaviors, some experts believe that overemphasizing the importance of willpower can be damaging. The belief that self-control alone can help us reach our goals can lead to people to blame themselves when they are unable to resist temptation. It may also lead to feelings of learned helplessness where people feel that they cannot do anything to change a situation. As a result, people may give up quickly or simply stop trying in the face of obstacles.

According to psychologist and researcher Roy Baumeister, lack of willpower is not the only factor that affects goal attainment. If you are working toward a goal, three critical components must be present: <ol><li>There needs to be a clear goal and the motivation to change. Having an unclear or overly general goal (losing weight) and insufficient motivation can lead to failure. You are more likely to achieve a clearly defined goal (losing 10 pounds) with a specific motivation. </li><li>You need to track your actions toward the achievement of the goal. Simply setting the goal is not enough. You need to monitor your behavior each day to ensure that you are doing the things that need to be done in order to reach your goal. </li><li>You need to have willpower. Being able to control your behavior is a critical part of achieving any goal. Fortunately, research suggests that there are steps people can take in order to make the most of their available willpower. </li> </ol>

While research suggests self-control has its limitations, psychologists have also found that it can be strengthened. Effective strategies include: <ul><li>Avoid temptation. This is an effective way of making the most of your available self-control. Avoiding temptation ensures that you do not "use up" your available self-control before it is really needed. </li><li>Plan ahead. Consider possible situations that might break your resolve. If you are faced with temptation, what actions will you take to avoid giving in? Research has found that planning ahead can improve willpower even in situations where people have experienced the effects of ego depletion. </li><li>Practice using self-control. While your control might become depleted in the short-term, regularly engaging in behaviors that require you to exert self-control will improve your willpower over time. Think of self-control as a muscle. While hard work may exhaust the muscle in the short-term, the muscle will grow stronger over time as you continue to work it. </li><li>Try focusing on one goal at a time. Setting a lot of goals at once (such as making a list of New Year's resolutions) is usually an ineffective approach. Depleting your willpower in one area can reduce self-control in others areas. It is best to choose one specific goal and focus your energy on it. Once you turn the behaviors needed to reach a goal into habits, you will not need to devote as much effort toward maintaining them. You can then use your resources to achieve other goals. </li> </ul>

A Word From Verywell Self-control is an important skill that allows us to regulate behavior in order to achieve our long-term goals. Research has shown that self-control is not only important for goal attainment. People with greater willpower tend to do better in school, have higher <a href="https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-self-esteem-2795868">self-esteem </a>, and better physical and mental health. While self-control is a limited resource, research also suggests that there are things that you can do to improve and strengthen your willpower over time.

How to Improve Your Self-Control

Our self-esteem is vital for personal well-being and happiness. People with higher self-esteem are more satisfied with their lives. 
But sometimes, life doesn&#39;t give us any reasons for self-love. We get fired, or a relationship ends. Under the influence of bias from self-interest, we may change the facts so that they become acceptable. In some cases, this can grow harmful.

Our self-esteem and human misjudgment

A person with a strong self-serving bias may have little capacity to assess a situation objectively.
In his speech, The psychology of human misjudgment, Charlie Munger considers the tendencies of serious criminals in Tolstoy&#39;s novels.
The criminals defend themselves in one of two ways:
<ul>
<li>They are either in denial of committing the crime.</li>
<li>They think that the crime is justifiable in light of their hardships.</li>
</ul>

The Tolstoy effect

Denial happens when we have a serious thought about reality but decide to ignore it. For example, discovering a dark spot on your skin that you want to ignore. Later, it becomes darker, and eventually, you may visit the doctor. Some denial may serve as a buffer to absorb the information, but once denial becomes the default coping mechanism, it can amplify our problems and cause harm.
The psychological effects of drug addiction and alcoholism can lead people to believe that they have remained in a respectable condition with good prospects even if they continue to deteriorate.

Avoiding reality by denying it

We go to great lengths to preserve our self-image, even when we engage in behaviours that are inconsistent with our inner self-image. We may use phrases such as &quot;not telling the truth is not lying&quot;, &quot;I didn&#39;t have the time&quot; to justify our actions.
The drive to save face is so strong that it often overrules and contradicts the effects of rewards and punishments. We may ignore our moral compass and instead find rationales for the bad, but fixable, choices that we repeat when it suits us.

Rationalising our choice

When we face a decision whose consequences are morally ambiguous, the first choice starts the process of entrapment. It leads us to justify our actions, which leads to further action in the wrong direction, which increases the intensity of our choice. This causes a vicious cycle of self-justification.
The implication is that if we don&#39;t draw the line, our habits and circumstances will do it for us.

The vicious cycle of self-justification

We will do dumb things. However, we are not doomed to live in denial or keep trying to justify our actions. We can choose to correct our tendencies when we recognise them.
We can break the self-justification habit by reflecting on our behaviour and the reasons for our behaviour. Resisting the urge for self-justification is not easy, but it is much better than letting it cripple the integrity of our behaviours.

Making smarter choices

On a personal level, Charlie Munger suggests we should face two facts:
<ol>
<li>Correctable, but unfixed bad performance is bad character and may make more of itself and cause more damage.</li>
<li>In demanding places, like sports teams, excuses and bad behaviour will prevent progress.</li>
</ol>
On an institutional level, Munger suggests:
<ol>
<li>Building a fair, meritocratic culture and methods of handling people that build up morale.</li>
<li>Separate the worst offenders when possible.</li>
</ol>

Making things easier

An introduction to bias from self-interest, which affects everything from how we see and filter information to how we avoid pain and distort reality.

Bias from Self-Interest — Self Deception and Denial to Reduce Pain or Increase Pleasure

Our desire to feel good about ourselves permeates everything we do. Wanting to maintain a positive self-image often leads us to adopt a biased image of the world. If we want to learn to align ourselves with the facts, we must stop denying reality and rationalizing our choices.

Our self-esteem can be a very important aspect of personal well-being, adjustment, and happiness. It has been reported that people with higher self-esteem are happier with their lives, have fewer interpersonal problems, achieve at a higher and more consistent level and give in less to peer pressure.

The strong motivation to preserve a positive and consistent self-image is more than evident in our lives.

We attribute success to our own abilities and failures to environmental factors and we continuously rate ourselves as better than average on any subjective measure – ethics, beauty, and ability to get along with others.

Look around – these positive illusions appear to be the rule rather than the exception in well-adjusted people.

However, sometimes life is harsh on us and gives few if any reasons for self-love.

We get fired, a relationship ends, and we end up making decisions that are not well aligned with our inner selves. And so we come up with ways to straighten our damaged self-image.

Under the influence of bias from self-interest, we may find ourselves drifting away from facts and spinning them to the point they become acceptable. While the tendency is mostly harmless and episodical, there are cases when it grows extreme.

The imperfect and confusing realities of our life can activate strong responses, which helps us preserve ourselves and our fragile self-images. Usually amplified by love, death or chemical dependency, strong self-serving bias may leave the person with little capacity to assess the situation objectively.

In his speech, <a dir="ltr" href="https://fs.blog/great-talks/psychology-human-misjudgment/">The Psychology of Human Misjudgment </a> , Charlie Munger reflects on the extreme tendencies that serious criminals display in Tolstoy’s novels and beyond. Their defense mechanisms can be divided into two distinct types – they are either in denial of committing the crime at all or they think that the crime is justifiable in light of their hardships.

Munger coins the two cases the Tolstoy effect .

Denial occurs, when we encounter a serious thought about reality, but decide to ignore it.

Imagine one day you notice a strange, dark spot on your skin. You feel a sudden sense of anxiety, but soon go on with your day and forget about it. Weeks later, it has not gone away and has slowly become darker and you eventually decide to take action and visit the doctor.

In such cases, small doses of denial might serve us well. We have time to absorb the information slowly and figure out the next steps for action, in case our darkest fears come true. However, once denial becomes a prolonged measure for coping with troubling matters, causing our problems to amplify, we are bound to suffer from consequences.

The consequences can be different. The mildest one is a simple inability to move on with our lives.

Charlie Munger was startled to see a case of persistent denial in a family friend:

This first really hit me between the eyes when a friend of our family had a super-athlete, super-student son who flew off a carrier in the north Atlantic and never came back, and his mother, who was a very sane woman, just never believed that he was dead.

The case made him realize that denial is often amplified by intense feelings of love and death. We’re denying to avoid pain.

While denial of the death of someone close is usually harmless and understandable, it can become a significant problem, when we deny an issue that is detrimental to ourselves and others.

A good example of such issues are physical dependencies, such as alcoholism or drug addiction.

Munger advises staying away from any opportunity to slip into an addiction since the psychological effects are most damaging. The reality distortion that happens in the minds of drug addicts leads them to believe that they have remained in a respectable condition and with reasonable prospects even as their condition keeps deteriorating.

A less severe case of distortion, but no less foolish, is our tendency to rationalize the choices we have made.

Most of us have a positive concept of ourselves and we believe ourselves to be competent, moral and smart.

We can go to great lengths to preserve this self-image. No doubt we have all engaged in behaviors that are less than consistent with our inner self-image and then used phrases, such as “not telling the truth is not lying”, “I didn’t have the time” and “others are even worse” to justify our less than ideal actions.

This tendency in part can be explained by the engine that drives self-justification called cognitive dissonance. It is the state of tension that occurs, whenever we hold two opposing facts in our heads, such as “smoking is bad” and “I smoke two packs a day”.

Dissonance bothers us under any circumstances, but it becomes particularly unbearable when our self-concept is threatened by it. After all, we spend our lives trying to lead lives that are consistent and meaningful. This drive “to save face” is so powerful that it often overrules and contradicts the pure effects of rewards and punishments as assumed by economic theory or observed in simple animal behavioral research.

The most obvious way to quiet dissonance is by quitting. However, a smoker that has tried to quit and failed can also quiet the other belief – namely that smoking is not all that bad. It is a simple and failure-free option that allows her to feel good about herself and requires hardly any effort. Having suspended our moral compass only once and found rationales for the bad, but fixable, choices gives us permission to repeat them in the future and continue the vicious cycle.

Carol Tavris and Elliot Aronson in their book <a dir="ltr" href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0156033909/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=9325&amp;creativeASIN=0156033909&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=farnamstreet-20&amp;linkId=KK5PR3XSZ3KZMA5H" rel="nofollow">Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me): Why We Justify Foolish Beliefs, Bad Decisions, and Hurtful Acts </a>explain the vicious cycle of choices with an analogy of a pyramid.

Consider the case of two reasonably honest students at the beginning of the term. They face the temptation to cheat on an important test. One of them gives in and the other does not. How do you think they will feel about cheating a week later?

Most likely their initially torn opinions will have polarized in light of their initial choices. Now take this effect and amplify it over the term. By the time they are through with the term two things will have happened: 1) They will be very far from each other in their beliefs 2) They will be convinced that they have always felt strongly about the issue and their side of the argument

Just like those students, we are often at the top of the choice pyramid, facing a decision whose consequences are morally ambiguous. This first choice then starts a process of entrapment of action – justification – further action, which increases the intensity of our commitment

Over time our choices reinforce themselves and towards the bottom of the pyramid, we find ourselves rolling toward increasingly extreme views.

Consider the famous <a dir="ltr" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_experiment" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Stanley Milgram experiment </a>, where two thirds of the 3,000 subjects administered a life threatening level of electric shock to another person. While this study is often used to illustrate our obedience to authority, it also a demonstrates the effects of self-justification .

Simply imagine the scenario of someone asking you to do the favor inflicting 500V of potentially deadly and incredibly painful shock on another person for the sake of science. Chances are most of us would refuse it under any circumstances.

Now suppose the researcher tells you he is interested in effects of punishment on learning and you will have to inflict hardly noticeable electric impulses on another person. You are even encouraged to try the lower levels of 10V yourself to feel that the pain is hardly noticeable.

When you come along, suddenly the experimenter asks you to increase the shock to 20V, which seems like a small increase, so you agree without thinking much. Then the cascade continues – if you gave 20V shock, what is the harm in giving 30V? Suddenly you find yourself unable to draw the line, so you simply tag along with the instructions.

When people are asked in advance whether they would administer shock above 450V, nearly nobody believes they would. However, when facing the choice under pressing circumstances, two-thirds of them did!

The implications here are powerful – if we don’t actively draw the line ourselves, our habits and circumstances will decide for us.

We will all do dumb things. We can’t help it. We are wired that way. However, we are not doomed to live in denial or keep striving to justify our actions. We always have the choice to correct our tendencies, once we recognize them.

A better understanding of our minds serves as the first step towards breaking the self-justification habit. It takes time, self-reflection and willingness to become more mindful about our behavior and reasons for our behavior, but it is well worth the effort.

The authors of <a dir="ltr" href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0156033909/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=9325&amp;creativeASIN=0156033909&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=farnamstreet-20&amp;linkId=KK5PR3XSZ3KZMA5H" rel="nofollow">Mistakes Were Made (But not By Me) </a>give an example of conservative William Safire, who wrote a column criticizing (then and current) American presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s efforts to conceal the identity of her health care task force. A few years later Dick Cheney, a Republican (conservative) candidate whom Safire admired, made a similar move to Clinton by insisting on keeping his energy task force secret.

The alarm bell in Safire’s head rang and he admits that the temptation to rationalize the occasion and apply double standards was enormous. However, he recognized the dissonance effects and ended up writing a similar column about Cheney.

We know that Safire’s ability to spot his own dissonance and do the fair thing is rare. People will bend over backward to reduce dissonance in a way that is favorable to them and their team. Resisting that urge is not easy to do, but it is much better than letting the natural psychological tendencies cripple the integrity of our behaviors. There are ways to make fairness easier.

On the personal level, Charlie Munger suggests we should face two simple facts. Firstly, fixable, but unfixed bad performance is bad character and tends to create more of itself and cause more damage — a sort of <a dir="ltr" href="https://www.farnamstreetblog.com/2009/12/mental-model-greshams-law/" rel="nofollow">Gresham’s Law </a>. And, secondly, in demanding places like athletic teams, excuses and bad behavior will not get us far.

On the institutional level, Munger advises building a fair, meritocratic, demanding culture plus personnel handling methods that build up morale. His second piece of advice is the severance of the worst offenders, when possible.

Munger expands on the second point by noting that it is not in any case possible to let go our children, but we must, therefore, try to fix them to our best ability. He gives a real life example of a child, who had the habit of taking candy from the stock of his father’s employer with the excuse that he had intended to replace it later. The father said words that never left the child:

“Son, it would be better for you to simply take all you want and call yourself a thief every time you do it.”

Turns out the child in this example was the dean of University of Southern California Business School, where Munger delivered the speech.

If we are effective, the lessons we teach our children will serve them well throughout their lives.

There is so much more to touch on with bias from self-interest, including its relation to hierarchy, how it distorts information, how it feeds our desire for self-preservation and scarcity, how it impacts group preservation, its relationship to terrority etc.

Bias From Self-Interest is part of the Farnam Street <a dir="ltr" href="https://www.farnamstreetblog.com/mental-models/" rel="nofollow">latticework of mental models </a>.

Mental Model: Bias from Self-Interest

These are usually long-winded, boring documents that are purely written for academic rather than entertainment value. These are usually found in textbooks, case studies, business reports, financial analysis reports, and many more.
<ol>
<li>Find a good place to read - your reading environment has a huge impact on how much text you cover and how much information you retain. It&#39;s best to have a well-lit, quiet, and comfortable reading environment</li>
<li>SQ3R Reading method - stands for survey, question, read, review, and recite</li>
<li>Learn to Speed Read</li>
<li>Read Backwards - not lietrally, but it can be easier for you to locate the important topics when you read the conclusion or the context summary before reading the rest of the chapter</li>
</ol>

Wading Through Dry Texts

Reading through page after page of dry text is a challenge, but there are tricks that can get you through required reading quickly and efficiently.

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Dry text is a term used to describe text that might be boring, long-winded, or written purely for academic value rather than entertainment value. You can often find dry text in textbooks, case studies, business reports, financial analysis reports, etc. In other words, dry text appears in many of the documents you will need to read and study while you are pursuing a <a data-component="link" data-ordinal="1" data-source="inlineLink" data-type="internalLink" dir="ltr" href="https://www.thoughtco.com/list-of-business-degrees-466394">business degree </a>.

You may have to read dozens of textbooks and hundreds of case studies while enrolled in business school. To stand any chance of getting through all of your required reading, you will need to learn how to read a lot of dry text quickly and efficiently. In this article, we're going to take a look at a few tricks and methods that will help you wade through all of your required reading.

Although it is possible to read almost anywhere, your <a data-component="link" data-ordinal="1" data-source="inlineLink" data-type="externalLink" dir="ltr" href="https://www.edutopia.org/blog/good-environment-home-study-art-markman" rel="noopener">reading environment </a>can have a huge impact on how much text you cover and how much information you retain. The best reading places are well-lit, quiet, and offer a comfortable place to sit. The environment should also be free of distractions—human or otherwise.

The Survey, Question, Read, Review and Recite (SQ3R) method of reading is one of the most commonly used approaches to reading. To use the <a data-component="link" data-ordinal="1" data-source="inlineLink" data-type="internalLink" dir="ltr" href="https://www.thoughtco.com/sq3r-reading-method-1685245">SQ3R method of reading </a>, follow these five simple steps:

<ol><li>Survey - Scan the material before you actually begin reading. Pay special attention to titles, headings, bold or italicized words, chapter summaries, diagrams, and pictures with captions. </li><li>Question - As you read, you should constantly ask yourself what the key takeaway point is. </li><li>Read - Read what you need to read, but focus on comprehending the material. Seek the facts and write information down as you learn. </li><li>Review - Review what you have learned when you finish reading. Look at your notes, chapter summaries, or things you have written in the margin and then reflect on key concepts. </li><li>Recite - Recite what you have learned aloud in your own words until you are confident that you understand the material and could explain it to someone else. </li> </ol>

Speed reading is a great way to get through a lot of dry text quickly. However, it is important to remember that the goal of speed reading involves more than just reading fast—you need to be able to comprehend and retain what you are reading. You can study <a data-component="link" data-ordinal="1" data-source="inlineLink" data-type="externalLink" dir="ltr" href="http://www.speed-reading-techniques.com/" rel="nofollow noopener">speed reading techniques </a>online to learn exactly how it's done. There are also a number of speed reading books on the market that can teach you various methods.

Sometimes, reading every assignment just isn't possible no matter how hard you try. Don't worry if you find yourself in this predicament. Reading every word isn't necessary. What's important is that you are able to <a data-component="link" data-ordinal="1" data-source="inlineLink" data-type="externalLink" dir="ltr" href="http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/happiness-in-world/200911/eight-ways-remember-anything" rel="noopener">recall the most important information </a>. Keep in mind that memory is highly visual. If you can create a mental memory tree, it may be easier for you to visualize and later recall facts, statistics, and other key information that you need to remember for class assignments, discussions, and tests. Get more tips on how to <a data-component="link" data-ordinal="2" data-source="inlineLink" data-type="internalLink" dir="ltr" href="https://www.thoughtco.com/how-to-read-and-remember-1857119">remember facts and information </a>.

Starting at the beginning of a textbook chapter isn't always the best idea. You are better off flipping to the end of the chapter where you will usually find a summary of key concepts, a list of vocabulary terms, and a list of questions that cover main ideas from the chapter. Reading this end section first will make it easier for you to locate and focus on the important topics when you read the rest of the chapter.

Tips for Wading Through Dry Text Quickly

Is a linear method of taking notes that proceeds down the page, using indentation or bullets to denote major and minor points.Pros: it records content relationship in a way that is easy to review.Cons: difficult to go back and edit information written in this system.
Works for:&nbsp;recording terms, definitions, facts and sequences, when taking notes on slides or readings.

The Outline/List

No matter what your profession, there are lots of reasons to take notes. You take notes to retain information from things you hear - like meetings and presentations. You take notes to capture facts or ideas (e.g., interviews, itineraries, something said in passing, etc.). You take notes to problem solve or brainstorm.

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