๐ญ Make Better Decisions / Cultural Anorexia / On Stupidity
You have so many opinions. And you suffer so much from them. Why not let them go? ~ Ajahn Chah
๐ย Hi friends,
I recently had a conversation with an expert in making better decisions. One thing that stuck with me was a moment when she described overconfidence bias as the โmother of all biasesโ.
Overconfidence bias is having an inflated idea of our abilities or knowledge, whether that is our understanding of politics, ability to parallel park, or how good we are at cooking lasagna.
This makes sense. I remember distinctly graduating in Economics and feeling that I had barely scratched the surface. There is truth to the saying, โthe more you know, the more you know you donโt know.โ And a beginners mind can help us to look at problems with fresh eyes.
But confidence is also important. A little overconfidence will help you started on something that you might otherwise not do if you had a โfairโ understanding of your abilities - starting a business in a new area, applying for a job that seems just out of reach, or asking a girl out.
There are so many areas where a little confidence helps can push us beyond our comfort zone.
We need balance. Maybe if you struggle with anxiety you donโt need to worry so much about overconfidence bias. But maybe if you are extroverted and generally dive into things head first, watch out for overconfidence bias.
If you want to hear the rest of my conversation with Nika about making better decisions, check out the full podcast below.
Have a great week!
Jamie
๐ฎย Wise Bites
๐ย Podcast - Making better decisions with Nika Kabiri
Nika Kabiri (@nikakabiri) helps businesses and individuals make better decisions. In this conversation we unpack Nikaโs advice for how you can take better decisions, and some of the ways in which we can get derailed. We talk about bias, decision fatigue, the paradox of choice, and many other influences on our decision making.
Listen now on Apple Podcasts or Spotify
๐ซฅ Article - ย Cultural Anorexia
The author of Wanting on culture and how it pushes us towards โthickโ or โthinโ desires. I have been meaning to read his book for ages, so this article bumped it towards the top of my reading list.
๐บ๐ธย Article - ย Why the Past 10 Years of American Life Have Been Uniquely Stupid
Jonathan Haidt on how we got where we are. He is talking about America, but this applies as much to the rest of the English speaking world as well.
Was this edition valuable? Help me to improve it.