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Taking the first steps

Start here if you’ve started, and it’s harder than you expected. The practical, unglamorous work of the first few weeks.

  • Conservatism Bias and Why You Keep Doing the Things You’ve Always Done

    You trust old information more than new information. You believe the way you’ve always done things is better than trying something different. And that belief, comfortable as it is, is probably keeping you stuck. Welcome to Conservatism Bias, one of the most common cognitive biases you have. It’s the mental shortcut that makes you hang…

  • Discounting

    Would you rather have £90 today or £100 in a month? Have you ever thought about how long it would take for that decision to change? Most of you would take the £90. Right now. Guaranteed. In your hand today. And honestly, that’s exactly the response your brain is designed to give you. It feels…

  • Negativity Bias

    Sometimes the only way to move forward is to first let go of what’s holding you back. And what’s holding you back isn’t usually what you think it is. It’s not the lack of opportunity. Not the missing motivation. Not even the circumstances you blame. It’s the negative event from last week, last month, or…

  • Heaven’s Reward Fallacy

    There’s a condition I see on a regular basis when I talk to patients. It was first described by Aaron Beck, one of the fathers of modern cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), back in 1976, when he was researching the distorted ways people think and where therapy could help. This particular cognitive bias seems to affect…

  • Blame and Responsibility

    “It’s not my fault.” He said it with accusation in his eyes, scanning the room for someone or something to blame. And he found plenty. My fault. The practice’s fault. The NHS’s fault. Society’s fault. The world’s fault. For him, nothing worked, and it was never, ever his responsibility to fix it. I remember this…

  • Availability Bias

    It’s winter in the UK, and flu season is upon us. I saw a really sick kid a few days ago and admitted him to hospital. He’d been seen just a few days before with what looked like a simple cold. Now he’s on a paediatric ward with pneumonia, struggling to breathe, parents terrified out…