Clear Thinking: How and Why Do People Make Bad Decisions?

Before you read further, two things must be established:

1. How you spend our days is how you spend your life. Being Present is all you need to spend yours wisely.
2. Life is full of challenges. The Solution is to know how to solve problems.

I already wrote comprehensive guides that address the above, but I realised there is still a key missing.

Why do people make bad decisions? Why do some people with the same information consistently perform better than others?

How can you reduce the likelihood of a negative outcome when your life is at stake and increase your chances of being correct?

How can we get better at reasoning?

Finding the Key to Maximising Everyday Situations when Solving Problems

I found a book that answers these questions.

In this book, it states that we need to take two actions to achieve the outcomes we want.

1. Make room for reason in our thoughts, feelings, and behaviours.
2. Consciously use this room to think clearly.

The book is by Shane Parrish (the owner of Farnam Street Blog), and its title is Clear Thinking: Turning Ordinary Moments into Extraordinary Results

This book provides a valuable guide for developing clear thinking skills. You will discover that you have an invincible edge once you have perfected this ability. Clear-headed decisions put you in better positions.

And success will only get better from there.

The Power of Clear Thinking in Ordinary Moments

Your future is determined by what happens in everyday situations.

We are trained to concentrate on significant choices rather than the times when we aren’t even aware that we are making a decision.

However, these everyday occurrences frequently have a greater impact on our success than the major choices. It can be challenging to appreciate this.

Most of the time, the circumstances speak for us.

Because these moments seem so unimportant at the time, we are unaware of it. But as days stretch into weeks and weeks into months, the accumulation of these moments determines how easy or difficult it is to achieve our objectives.

You are in a better or worse position to deal with the future at every moment.

In the end, how you position yourself determines how easy or difficult life will be. Instead of letting circumstances force you to make a decision, a good position enables you to think clearly.

The best people in the world rarely make decisions based on external pressures, which is one reason they consistently make wise choices.

Being in a good position at the beginning is the biggest help to decision-making.

If you can out-position someone, you can outperform them without being smarter than them. When in a good situation, anyone appears brilliant. And when in a bad one, even the smartest person appears foolish.

There are numerous ways to succeed when you are in a good position.

This can be compared to playing Tetris. Playing well gives you a lot of choices for where to place the next piece. But when you’re playing badly, you wait for the right piece.

Many people fail to realise that everyday situations determine your position, and your position dictates your options.

Clear Thinking is the Key to Proper Positioning

You can control your situation rather than let it control you by developing your ability to think clearly.

It makes no difference what position you are in now. Whether you improve your position today is what counts. Every everyday situation presents a chance to either make the future simpler or more complex.

It all depends on how clearly you’re thinking.

The Enemies of Clear Thinking

If you don’t know when to use reason, it’s a waste.

For instance, this is a moment after something triggers you, but before you react. In that tiny window, you have two options:

1. Pause and think rationally.
2. React automatically.

The problem is that our automatic behaviour often makes things worse.

For example:

• Someone criticises your work → you immediately get defensive and argue back
• You see a scary news headline → You immediately share it and panic
• Someone cuts you off → You assume malice on their part.

Therefore, the first step in improving our results is to teach ourselves to recognise the right decisions in the first place and to take a moment to clear our minds.

Because it entails resetting our ingrained biological defaults that have developed over many centuries, this training takes a lot of time and effort.

However, mastering the everyday events that shape the future is not only feasible but also essential to success and reaching your long-term goals.

Avoid the High Cost of Losing Control

Any situation is made worse by irrational reactions.

The time and effort you invest in correcting your unintentional mistakes come at the expense of achieving your desired results.

There is a big benefit to focusing more of your energy on reaching your goals rather than increasing your problems.

Because in the end, the person who develops clear thinking skills puts more of their total effort toward achieving their goals than the one who doesn’t.

However, if you are unable to control your automatic behaviours (or defaults), you have little chance of thinking clearly.

Recognising the Four Enemies of Clear Thinking

Many things work against rational thought.

This includes emotions like anger or fear, cognitive biases, social pressure, stress, or simply being in a hurry.

These “autopilots” try to skip that pause and push you straight into automatic reactions.

However, there are four major autopilots.

1. The Emotional Autopilot: We react based on how we feel instead of what’s true.
2. The Ego Autopilot: We get defensive when our ego or status feels attacked.
3. The Social Autopilot: We go along with what everyone else is doing.
4. The Comfort Autopilot: We stick with what’s familiar with and avoid change.

The “autopilot” metaphor captures how these responses happen automatically, without conscious control. It’s just like a plane on autopilot flies without the pilot actively steering.

Each represents a different way our minds switch to automatic mode instead of engaging our rational, deliberate thinking.

These autopilots frequently overlap with one another; there are no distinct boundaries between them. Unforced errors can be caused by either one alone, but when they combine, the situation rapidly deteriorates.

The best outcomes in the real world are obtained by those who master their autopilots. They simply know how to manage their ego and temper rather than allowing them to control them.

It’s not that they don’t have either. They constantly position themselves favourably for tomorrow because they can think clearly in everyday situations today.

The Emotional Autopilot

Even the most intelligent people can become foolish due to their emotions, which prevent them from thinking clearly.

For instance,

• You can’t act in your own best interests when you’re angry at a competitor.
• You also act impulsively and cut off your thought process out of fear of missing an opportunity.
• Sometimes, you distance yourself from possible allies when you become outraged at a criticism and react defensively.

The list is endless.

Watch out if you find yourself in any of these situations! Most likely, the emotional autopilot is in charge.

The Ego Autopilot

We are prompted by the ego autopilot to defend and enhance our self-image at all costs.

Our ego tempts us into believing we are more than we actually are. It wants us to appear successful rather than being successful.

The ego causes us to prioritise preserving or enhancing our perceived position in a social hierarchy rather than expanding our knowledge or skill set.

When left unchecked, the ego autopilot has the potential to transform confidence into arrogance or even overconfidence.

For instance, after gaining some knowledge from the internet, we become arrogant. Everything appears to be simple. We consequently take chances that we might not be aware of.  But if we want the outcomes we want, we must fight this kind of undeserved confidence.

Undeserved confidence created by the ego autopilot simply rushes us to bad decisions and blinds us to risk.

How the Ego Autopilot Sometimes Affects Us at Work

Having others rely on us for every decision makes us feel significant and indispensable.

This is one reason why people find it difficult to empower others at work. Having them rely on us gives us a sense of strength and necessity. We feel more powerful the more people rely on us.

Nevertheless, this stance frequently backfires. We gradually become prisoners of the conditions we have created. Because when it takes more and more work to remain in one spot, we get closer to the limit of brute force. Things are bound to break eventually with this type of mindset.

The Ego Autopilot Chooses Feeling Right Over Being Right

We are compelled by the ego autopilot to prioritise feeling right over being right.

Nothing feels better than being correct, to the point where we will unwittingly rearrange the world into artificial hierarchies to preserve our beliefs and improve our self-esteem.

Most people live their lives believing that they are correct and that others who disagree with them are incorrect. We confuse the way the world is with how we would like it to be. We assume that the world operates the way we want it to.

Here are some ways to know if the Ego Autopilot is in charge:

• You find yourself putting a lot of effort into how you are perceived.
• Sometimes, you frequently feel like your pride is being damaged
• You read a few articles on a subject and believe you are an expert,
• At certain times, you constantly try to prove yourself correct and find it difficult to admit your mistakes
• You find it difficult to say “I don’t know,”
• You’re constantly jealous of others or feel like you never get the credit you deserve.

Be on guard! Your ego is in charge in these moments.

The Social Autopilot

The social autopilot encourages conformity.

It persuades us to adopt a viewpoint or conduct just because others do. The desire to fit in, the fear of being an outsider, the fear of being ridiculed, and the fear of disappointing others. These are all examples of what is meant by the term “social pressure.”

We are encouraged by the social autopilot to delegate our ideas, opinions, and results to other people.

It’s simple to justify doing something when everyone else is doing it. There’s no need to stand out, accept accountability for results, or think independently. Simply put your mind on autopilot and go to sleep.

The social autopilot also makes us show off our “good” opinions to get approval from others, especially when it costs us nothing to do so.

Disengage from the Social Autopilot to Stand Out

We fear rejection, mockery, and being treated like idiots because of the social autopilot.

Most people tend to accept the social norm because they believe that the risk of losing social capital outweighs any potential benefits of doing otherwise. Fear prevents us from taking chances and realizing our full potential.

Although there is occasionally wisdom in following the crowd, the big lie of the social autopilot is to mistake the group’s comfort for proof that your actions will produce better outcomes.

If you’re doing the same work as everyone, the only way to outperform is to put in more effort than anyone else.

Shamelessness is Necessary for Success.

You could perform worse if you try something different, but you could also completely alter the game. No doubt, you will achieve the same outcomes as everyone else if you follow their lead.

At the beginning, follow everyone else’s lead if you lack the knowledge necessary to make your own decisions. But you’ll need to think clearly if you want better-than-average results. Additionally, thinking clearly means thinking on your own.

It’s sometimes necessary to defy social norms and act in a way that differs from what others are doing. It’s going to get uncomfortable, so be prepared.

Be Different and Be Correct

The fact that other people agree or disagree with you makes you neither right nor wrong. You will be right if your facts and reasoning are correct.

– Warren Buffett

Doing something different isn’t enough to succeed; you also need to be correct.

You must think differently to act differently. You will stand out as a result, but change only occurs when you are prepared to think for yourself, do what no one else is doing, and take the chance of appearing foolish.

Once you also see that you’ve been following everyone else’s lead, and only because they are already doing it, then it’s time to try something different.

Here are some ways to know if the Social Autopilot is in charge:

• You frequently worry about disappointing other people,
• At certain times, you are afraid of being an outsider,
• You are terrified of being mocked,
• You find yourself trying to blend in with a crowd.

The Comfort Autopilot

The Comfort Autopilot pushes us to maintain the status quo.

It’s difficult to start something, but it’s also difficult to stop something. Even when change is beneficial, we still oppose it.

Objects never change if they’re left alone. Until something stops them, they don’t stop moving or begin on their own. Human behaviour and our natural tendency to oppose even positive changes can also be explained by this law of physics.

Once our minds are set in a direction, they tend to continue in that direction unless acted upon by some outside force. This cognitive inertia is why changing our minds is hard.

– Leonard Mlodinov

Because we know what to expect and it’s reassuring to have our expectations consistently met, inertia keeps us in unhealthy relationships and unfulfilling jobs.

The fact that maintaining the status quo takes virtually no work is one of the reasons we oppose change. This explains why we become complacent. Building momentum requires a lot of work but keeping it up requires much less.

The comfort autopilot takes advantage of our inclination to stick with tried-and-true methods or norms even when they are no longer the best. The fear that trying something new will result in worse outcomes is another reason why we often resist change.

When it comes to comfort, the “zone of average” is a dangerous place. It’s the moment when everything is functioning so smoothly that we don’t think any adjustments are necessary. We’re hoping for a miraculous improvement. They hardly ever do, of course.

Comfort Autopilot is What Causes You to Double Down when you are Wrong

We must adjust when conditions shift.

However, comfort narrows perspectives and drains the will to change our current course of action. It discourages experimentation and course correction and makes it more difficult to envision alternative approaches.

Additionally, comfort keeps us from doing hard things. It gets harder to do the difficult thing we know we should do the longer we put it off.

Avoiding conflict is comfortable and easy.

But the more time we spend avoiding the conflict, the more energy we use to keep avoiding it.

Avoiding a small but challenging conversation soon escalates into avoiding a big and seemingly insurmountable one. Our relationship eventually suffers because of the weight of what we avoid.

We continue to act in ways that don’t lead to our desired outcomes because of comfort. It mostly goes unnoticed in our subconscious until its effects become too difficult to reverse.

Here are some ways to know if the Comfort Autopilot is in charge:

• You or your team are resisting change or sticking to a particular method just because it’s how you’ve always done it.
• You find yourself refusing to share ideas in group settings.

Override to Clarity

We can’t turn off our autopilots, but we can reprogram them.

If we want better outcomes, achieve our goals, and find more joy and meaning in life, we need to learn how to override our autopilots when they’re steering us wrong.

The good news is that we can rewire the same biological tendencies that cause us to act without thinking to work in our favor.

Those who have the best environments tend to have the best autopilots.

Sometimes it’s pure luck, and other times it’s a part of a calculated plan. In any case, when everyone else is acting in a certain way, it’s simpler to follow suit.

Creating an intentional environment where your desired behavior becomes the default behavior is a better way to override your autopilots than using willpower.

Joining groups whose autopilots are set to your desired behaviors is an effective way to create an intentional environment.

If you want to read more, join a book club. To run more, join a running club. If you want to exercise more, hire a trainer.

Your chosen environment, rather than your willpower alone, will help reprogram your autopilots toward better choices.

This is the foundation of thinking clearly to avoid making bad decisions.

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