Your brain is lazy and will cut corners, blog article written by Ted Prodromou

In the book, Thinking Fast and Slow, Daniel Kahneman shares that our brain uses two systems to make decisions. 

The role of System 1 is to maintain and update a working mental model of your world. 

We make hundreds of decisions each and every day, starting from the moment we wake up… 

  • Should I hit the snooze button one more time? 
  • What am I going to have for breakfast? 
  • Should I check my email before I work out? 

Before we've left the bedroom we've made dozens of simple decisions using System 1. 

Many of these decisions are not made consciously. 

For instance, which leg do you put into your pants first when you are getting dressed? 

You've probably been doing that the same way, every day, for the better part of your life and you do it on autopilot. 

System 2 is a slow, analytical system. It's based on heuristics and biases. 

Our brains are lazy and look for patterns. 

We often see patterns where none exist. 

We make decisions based on small sample sizes and our imagination will make up stories to support our decisions. 

My mother used to tell me I couldn't go skiing because I would break my leg. 

For years, I didn't ski because I thought I would break my leg. 

My brain was lazy and I never challenged my mother's belief until I was in my 20s. 

I've been skiing for over 30 years without breaking my leg and it's one of my favorite things to do. 

This week, we're discussing Thinking Fast and Slow, in the Mastermind Book Club

Don't worry, Tom Ruwitch and I read the book for you and we'd love to have you join the discussion. 

When: Thursday, January 25th at 11:30 AM Pacific/2:30 PM Eastern time. 

>>> Join us 

Ted  

About the author 

Ted Prodromou

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