ConceptsNest

  “The most difficult subjects can be explained to the most slow-witted man if he has not formed any idea of them already; but the simplest thing cannot be made clear to the most intelligent man if he is firmly persuaded that he knows already, without a shadow of doubt, what is laid before him.”- Leo Tolstoy. Why don't facts change our minds? And why would someone continue to believe a false or inaccurate idea anyway? How do such behaviors serve us? The Logic of False Beliefs Humans need a reasonably accurate view of the world in order to survive . If our model of reality is wildly different from the actual world, then we struggle to take effective actions each day. However, truth and accuracy are not the only things that matter to the human mind. Humans also seem to have a deep desire to belong. “Humans are herd animals. We want to fit in, to bond with others, and to earn the respect and approval of our peers . Such inclinations are essential to our survival. For most of our e

  The ancient Stoic philosophers like Marcus Aurelius, Seneca, and Epictetus regularly conducted an exercise known as a premeditatio malorum, which translates to a “premeditation of evils.” The goal of this exercise was to envision the negative things that could happen in life. For example, the Stoics would imagine what it would be like to lose their job and become homeless or to suffer an injury and become paralyzed or to have their reputation ruined and lose their status in society. The Stoics believed that by imagining the worst-case scenario ahead of time, they could overcome their fears of negative experiences and make better plans to prevent them . While most people were focused on how they could achieve success, the Stoics also considered how they would manage failure. This way of thinking, in which we consider the opposite of what we want, is known as inversion. It is a rare and crucial skill that nearly all great thinkers use to their advantage. How Great Thinkers Shatte

  A deer may be startled by a loud noise and take off through the forest, but as soon as the threat is gone, the deer immediately calms down and starts grazing. And it does not appear to be in anxiety about it later. Let us playact for a moment that we are that deer, living in the grasslands of India. We have slim long feet that help us get into a sprint quickly and pruned senses that pick up signs of danger, a majestic antelope that grabs attention from the group of humans that, every now and then, come driving around on a jungle expedition taking pictures of us. Perhaps the biggest difference between us and our other deer friends, and the humans taking our photograph is that nearly every decision we make (as a deer) provides an immediate benefit to our life . When we are hungry, we walk over and chomp on a bush. When it rains, we shelter under a tree. When we spot a tiger, we run away. Most of our choices as a deer—like what to eat or where to sleep or when to avoid a predator—make

  Murphy's Law states, “Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.” This pithy statement references the annoying tendency of life to cause trouble and make things difficult . Problems seem to arise naturally on their own, while solutions always require our attention, energy, and effort. Life never seems to just work itself out for us. If anything, our lives become more complicated and gradually decline into disorder rather than remaining simple and structured. Why is that? Murphy's Law is just a common adage that people toss around in conversation, but it is related to one of the great forces of our universe. This force is so fundamental to the way our world works that it permeates nearly every endeavour we pursue. It drives many of the problems we face and leads to disarray. It is the one force that governs everybody's life: Entropy. What is Entropy and Why Does It Matter? One simple way to think about it could be: Imagine that we take a box of puzzle pieces and dump th

  Story - The Ivy Lee Method: By 1918, Charles M. Schwab was one of the richest men in the world. Schwab was the president of the Bethlehem Steel Corporation, the largest shipbuilder, and the second-largest steel producer in America at the time. The famous inventor Thomas Edison once referred to Schwab as the “master hustler.” He was constantly seeking an edge over the competition. One day in 1918, in his quest to increase the efficiency of his team and discover better ways to get things done, Schwab arranged a meeting with a highly respected productivity consultant named Ivy Lee. Lee was a successful businessman in his own right and is widely remembered as a pioneer in the field of public relations. The Ivy Lee Method:. . . . . . . . During his 15 minutes with each executive, Ivy Lee explained this simple set of daily routine steps for achieving peak productivity: 1.       At the end of each workday, write down the six most important things you need to accomplish tomorrow. 2.

  ***Continued from Chapter 01 (Covered previously: Cognitive Biases and Debiasing, The Debiasing Process) Link to Chapter 01 Various Debiasing Techniques There are a few general debiasing strategies (sometimes referred to as  cognitive-forcing strategies ), which can help deal with many of the cognitive biases. Many of these strategies are interrelated since the underlying principles behind them are similar. A) Develop awareness of cognitive biases: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .>>   In some cases, simply being aware of a certain bias can help us reduce its impact. For example, consider the  illusion of transparency , a cognitive bias that causes people to overestimate how well others can discern their emotional state, so that they tend to think that other people can tell if they are feeling nervous or anxious even in situations where that is not the case. This happens because our own emotional experience can be so strong, we are sure our emotions ‘leak out.’ Howev