Why we suck at making decisions (and what to do about it — with a real-world application)

Most of us are at a severe disadvantage when it comes to making decisions

We have a few narrow ideas & a few ways in which we think the world works

This is highly detrimental especially when it comes to our Smartphone habits

Despite knowing the downsides of constantly being online or even on the phone for a longer period of time, we never really think much about it

This usually results in a continuous loop of distractions, getting sucked by various apps on our smartphone

We then feel horrible for getting distracted & try to go cold turkey to beat it

Needless to say, we fail miserably

The only way to beat distraction is by being in harmony with being distracted & embracing boredom

This may seem counter-intuitive, but it works

The ability to focus on a single task for a longer period of time is a superpower in today’s economy

Most of us suck at this

But the good news is that it can be learned

Embracing boredom is the first step in this endeavor

And we need to completely rewire our brains for this

We’ve created an unconscious cue that triggers checking our smartphones in any chance of potential boredom

That’s the basic way of life, unfortunately, in our society

We’ve killed boredom & are constantly stimulated

Why this simple strategy works, though, is what’s interesting

Those narrow ideas which are our basic understanding of how things work are called Mental Models

These are usually the tools we use to make almost all of our decisions & solve problems — consciously or subconsciously

To make an informed & proper decision, you need to have a diverse range of Metal Models of various subjects & topics

That’s also what separates the smart person from the rest — their perspective

They often have multiple Mental Models

These multiple Mental Models allow them to flow from one subject to another to provide a better insight into the problem

That’s how they solve important problems & make better decisions

That’s how even you can become good at Decision Making

So, returning back to rewiring your brain — Just start working in chunks

Schedule a few hours of deep work every day

Fill the rest to be your time with fun things to do

Schedule ‘Thinking Time’ where you’re taking some time to think about the things you read or learned

There are various studies that actually say that using social media not only reduces our ability to concentrate but also makes it harder to stay in the Deep Flow state altogether

Quitting Social Media is the key — but consciously

Start with a 30-Day challenge

• Delete 1 social media app you think of as essential
• Go 30 days without using it
• Evaluate after 30-Days to see if anything was impacted because you didn’t use your app

Unless that app actually helped you move the needle — eliminate it

Be like a craftsman

Choose your tools wisely

The smartphone was invented to serve us

Don’t let that become your Master

Read this post and more on my Typeshare Social Blog