You’re driving forward whilst staring backwards. That’s the problem. People often tell me they want to change their life, lose weight, quit smoking, sort out their anxiety. Great. Brilliant. Let’s do it. We make a plan, and weeks later I ask them what they’ve been doing since we last spoke. They look sheepish, because they…
Often, it’s easier to blame others when bad things happen rather than blame yourself. It’s easier to look for someone external to carry the can than to accept it’s actually your fault you’re in that situation to begin with. This is a self-protective conditioned response. It’s a recognised thing most of us do from time…
You overvalue things simply because they’re yours. I’ve got a wardrobe full of clothes I haven’t worn in years. Won’t wear this year. Probably won’t wear next year either. But I can’t throw them away. Why? Because they’re mine, and I like to hang onto stuff. That’s the endowment effect in action. You hang onto…
You only see the winners. That’s the problem. You see Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Jobs. All dropped out of university, all became billionaires. So you conclude that dropping out leads to success. You don’t see the thousands who dropped out and failed. That’s survivor bias. You’re only seeing the survivors, only seeing the winners,…
You’re doing what everyone else is doing. Even when it’s wrong. Perhaps you look around before you act. Maybe you check what others think before you speak. You follow the crowd because the crowd must know something you don’t. That’s social proof tendency, and it’s running your life more than you realise. It’s not always…
You can get stuck because what’s going on inside your head doesn’t match what’s actually happening in the real world. Let me show you what I mean. You believe you’re terrible at your job. The evidence? Your boss gave you some feedback that you didn’t really think was fair. Meanwhile, in reality, you’ve been promoted…
Your brain wants you to make decisions fast. Not good decisions. Not thoughtful decisions. Just fast ones. This made perfect sense when you were running from predators on the savannah. It makes considerably less sense when you’re choosing a career, ending a relationship, or deciding whether to send that angry email. This is called Doubt…
Everyone’s a winner on LinkedIn. Every post is about crushing goals, smashing targets, and achieving incredible success. You’d think nobody ever failed at anything. You’d think every business decision was a stroke of genius, every investment returned 300%, and every career move was perfectly timed. You’d think failure didn’t exist, that the road to success…
The most dangerous person in any room is the one who doesn’t know what they don’t know. They’re confident. They’re decisive. They speak with authority. They’re absolutely certain they’re right. And they’re making terrible decisions that they don’t even realise are terrible, which is precisely what makes them so dangerous. It’s not the incompetent person…
Reactance bias can help or hinder us in life. Use it the right way, and it’s a powerful driver. Get it wrong, and we’re going to stubbornly hang on to the bad stuff in our lives just because we can. Let me tell you a story that shaped my entire career. When I was a…