If you’ve had a chance to catch the first season of Ted Lasso, you’re familiar with the coach’s catch-phrase:
“You know what the happiest animal in the world is? It’s a goldfish. It’s got a 10-second memory. Be a goldfish!”
The idea is: Let go of the bad plays (or decisions) and don’t make too much of the good ones either. Social scientist Daniel Kahneman might suggest we actually are quite like goldfish. He says humans and thinking are like cats and swimming: we are capable of it, but also avoid it at all costs.
However we define “thinking,” no doubt we tend to over-think too. This week we set to break out of these loops and celebrate all things decision-making.
Beginning with the end in mind, Nabil writes about Kahneman’s favorite thinking technique, the pre-mortem. Sure, it’s possible to learn from a postmortem, and sometimes that’s all we have to work with. But what if we do the same analysis before the project collapses?
Enter, the pre-mortem.
The techniques are relevant to life and project management. A win-win.
Read the full article here: Premortem: a Decision-Making Trick to Avoid Disaster and Tame Optimism
If you feel like it’s taking too long to decide which decision-making article to turn to first, act now and check out Nabil’s synthesis of Mel Robbin’s Five-Second Rule.
Why?
Because, as he writes, “We all know what we should do. Even better, we want to do what we should do. The problem is we suck at taking action — and our brains are the ones to blame.”
Discover the science behind our inertia and its relevance to taking action with pragmatism here: Mel Robbins’ 5-Second Rule Will Help You Act Faster
Believe it or not, conformity isn’t all bad. There’s a reason why it’s wired into our evolutionary behavior. But when it comes to opening your blind spots, and truly getting the perspectives of others on your team, Obama had a powerful way of getting around the “yes man” syndrome.
From the annals of leadership decision-making, and getting the honest feedback you both don’t want to hear but need to, check out: Obama’s Yes-Man Test Will Help You Get Honest Feedback
Our learning this week wouldn’t be complete without a dose of speed learning. Top of the FAST list is indeed to be like a goldfish: Forget. But we don’t have a “forget” button we can press whenever we want.
Check out the mental trick to clear the brain’s inbox, break lethargic patterns, and open up your mind to more (and quicker) learning here: Jim Kwik’s FAST Method Will Help You Learn Faster
Don’t “forget” to check out our daily contributions at Big Self. We’re here for you in life, leadership, learning, and love.