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Learn, Share, Grow - Eight Questions to Enhance Your Decision-Making

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Below is a lesson from Ole Lehmann's X post on questions that will enhance your decision-making, as well as our key learnings.

The Blue Courage team is dedicated to continual learning and growth.  We have adopted a concept from Simon Sinek’s Start With Why team called “Learn, Share, Grow”.  We are constantly finding great articles, videos, and readings that have so much learning.  As we learn new and great things, this new knowledge should be shared for everyone to then grow from.


Eight Questions to Enhance Your Decision-Making: Insights from Daniel Kahneman

Ole Lehmann

I used to think I was rational.

Then I read Daniel Kahneman's Nobel Prize-winning work on human decision-making.

He routinely asks 8 questions to expose cognitive traps you fall into daily.

Test yourself with these questions (it's the ultimate BS detector for your brain):

Question 1: Am I thinking fast or slow?

Kahneman's not impressed by your lightning-fast decisions.

Why? Because your brain has two systems:

• Fast: Intuitive, emotional, unconscious

• Slow: Analytical, logical, conscious

Guess which one Kahneman trusts for big decisions?

Think about it: You're offered a new job. Exciting, right?

Fast thinking says: "Take it! More money!"

Slow thinking asks: "How does this align with my long-term goals?"

This question is your brake pedal in a world of snap judgments.

Continue Reading Here.


Key Learnings:
 

Here are the 8 questions from Daniel Kahneman's Nobel Prize-winning work on human decision-making:

  1. Am I thinking fast or slow?
  2. Am I too stressed to think clearly?
  3. Is this a reversible decision?
  4. What would you think about this if it were someone else's decision?
  5. What would I think about this a year from now?
  6. What would I advise a friend to do in this situation?
  7. What's the quality of the evidence?
  8. What are the opposing arguments?

 

Thinking Fast vs. Slow:

  • Understand the difference between fast (intuitive, emotional, unconscious) and slow (analytical, logical, conscious) thinking.
  • Use slow thinking for significant decisions, as it promotes better alignment with long-term goals.

Impact of Stress:

  • Recognize that stress impairs decision-making by narrowing focus, amplifying negative emotions, and increasing risk-taking.
  • Assess stress levels before making important choices to avoid rash decisions.

Reversibility of Decisions:

  • Determine whether a decision is reversible or irreversible.
  • Allocate mental energy accordingly and avoid decision paralysis by recognizing the flexibility of certain choices.

Objective Perspective:

  • Gain objectivity by considering what you would think if someone else were making the same decision.
  • This helps turn emotional decisions into logical analyses.

Long-term Impact:

  • Consider how you will view the decision a year from now to combat the tendency to overvalue the present.
  • This helps in making more future-oriented and less impulsive decisions.

Advising a Friend:

  • Apply the advice you would give a friend in the same situation to yourself, leveraging emotional detachment and a desire for the best outcome.

Quality of Evidence:

  • Critically evaluate the evidence supporting your decision.
  • Assess the reliability, source, and potential biases of the information.

Considering Opposing Arguments:

  • Deliberately consider counterarguments to your decision.
  • This challenges assumptions, prepares for pitfalls, and can either strengthen your resolve or prevent a mistake.

Critical thinking and self-awareness is important in decision-making. Utilize Daniel Kahneman's principles for identifying and avoiding cognitive traps by using specific questions that encourage a more deliberate, analytical, and objective approach to making choices. These questions help individuals slow down, assess their emotional state, consider the long-term impact, evaluate the quality of evidence, and weigh opposing arguments, ultimately leading to better, more informed decisions.

 

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