Rubric for making decisions, coming to terms with an idea or choice, or seeing through the muck.
Deciding #
- To figure out if you really want something in life, give yourself permission to explore the alternative and say no. Live with it for a few weeks. See how it feels after that.
- To live without regrets doesn’t mean making all the right choices. It means fully embracing the ones you do get to make and taking time to grieve the ones you didn’t.
- What’s the cost of not doing the thing?
- Does this thing I’m doing or buying or downloading serve my goals? Is it the best way out of the rest of the available options to achieve them? If not, look elsewhere.
Separating Fact VS Story #
- If a security camera were observing the situation, what would it say? Is it different than what you would?
## Factual Equations
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Fact = information - emotion
Opinion = information + experience
Ingorance = opinion - experience
Stupidity = opinion - fact
Uncovering Truth #
- The harder people (or companies) cling to positivity and happiness, the more likely it is that there’s something truly rotten underneath that isn’t being addressed.
- Suspect anyone who markets themselves or their company as a world changer. That’s a determination others make, it’s not one that they can proclaim.
- If another person demands a change to your life or self in order to gain their acceptance, they have already decided to not accept you. No amount of change will do for them—either your change will not be enough or they will invent more things which need changing.
Disagreeing #
“We can disagree and still love each other unless your disagreement is rooted in my oppression and denial of my humanity and right to exist.”
-James Baldwin
- Disagreeing and committing is set up to benefit those loudest and most persuasive. To do the ideas presented service requires understanding their merits, not simply accepting them based on how loudly they’re presented.
Cognitive Biases #
| Bias Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Confirmation Bias | Preferring information that matches what you already think. |
| Availability Heuristic | Giving more weight to recent or memorable information. |
| Anchoring Bias | Relying too much on the first piece of information. |
| Status Quo Bias | Resisting change, preferring things stay the same. |
| Self-serving Bias | Crediting successes to yourself, blaming others for failures. |
| Dunning-Kruger Effect | Those less skilled think they’re better than they are. |
| Hindsight Bias | Believing you knew something would happen after it does. |
| Survivorship Bias | Only looking at successes, ignoring failures. |
| Optimism/Pessimism Bias | Thinking good/bad things are more likely than they are. |
| Framing Effect | Drawing conclusions based on how info is presented. |
| Groupthink | Wanting to agree with the group, even if it’s wrong. |
| Bandwagon Effect | Doing something because everyone else is. |
| Sunk Cost Fallacy | Sticking with a decision due to past investment. |
| Recency Effect | Valuing the latest information more. |
| Selection Bias | Focusing on certain data and ignoring the rest. |
| Observer-expectancy Effect | Expectations affecting the results. |
| False Consensus Effect | Thinking everyone agrees with you more than they do. |