Note: This article is based on the writer "Darius Foroux", which updates us on errors of thought.
Each person creates their own social reality, and the way you look at the world is completely subjective because we all have cognitive biases. The concept of cognitive biases was invented in 1972. Cognitive bias is a systematic error in thinking that affects judgments. Hence in our decisions, even as of this writing, 106 cognitive biases relevant to decision-making are known.
3 Mistakes in Thinking:
We all make these mistakes. So, there is no point in trying to become a perfect thinker. It is impossible. However, with practice, you can avoid some of the thinking mistakes that most of us make. By avoiding these mistakes, we can improve our decisions. And then our lives and careers, and what follows is a list of three mistakes in thinking, and the question is: Do you make these mistakes? If so, I'll share the solution as well:
1. Life goes against your will:
My favorite cognitive bias is the attentional bias. It is scientific evidence for the idea that your life is the result of your thoughts, not the events you experience. The attention bias states that our perceptions are influenced by our thoughts, and from it our perceptions determine our actions and decisions, which shape our lives. If you have negative thoughts, you also have a negative perception of life.
Our mind may be irrational, but it's also simple at the same time. What to do about it is pay close attention to the way you treat the people in your life, the conversations you have, the music you listen to, the books you read, the movies you watch, and understand that everything affects you. There is nothing you can do about it; however, you can control what you want to do. So, if your attention is focused on positive things, you will have a positive outlook on life. If your attention is focused on negative things, you will have a negative outlook on life.
2. Trust your own mind:
If you still believe your mind is your friend, you are wrong. The evidence is in one of the well-known cognitive biases, the confirmation bias, which explains our pre-confirmation behavior. If you believe in something, you will try hard to find information, evidence, and signs to support that. In other words, you do everything to prove that you are not wrong.
Scientists also suffer from this error in thinking. They are famous for finding evidence that confirms their preconceived notions. No one is perfect. What to do about it is a realistic and neutral perspective on life, which leads to better informed decisions. Unfortunately, the best decision does not exist. If it is bei
the case, we would live in an ideal world filled with people who make logical and pragmatic decisions.
So, I avoid making decisions based on beliefs, clear logic, and even science. For me, every time I get locked into a thinking pattern, I try to break it out by looking at a list of cognitive biases, and I search Wikipedia for a “list of cognitive biases.”
It's tempting to think we've got it all figured out because we've read some books or studies, but there's just one problem, whixh is you still can't trust your own judgment, no matter how much knowledge you have, and understanding this helps you make better-informed decisions.
3. Believing you will never do anything again:
- When I came back from an exhausting trip, I said, "I will never travel again."
- When my first relationship ended, I said, "I will never start a new relationship."
- When I quit my job, I said, "I'll never work for someone again."
- When I got tired of using public transportation, I said, "I'll never take the train again."
- When I lost half of my money during the stock market crash of 2008/2009, I said, "I will never invest again."
Of course, I traveled again, invested again, fell in love again, took the train again, and in the future, I might work for someone else again. You can't think you'll never do anything after a bad experience, and that's something I learned from personal experience.
Actually, it is something we all learn, but the problem is that we keep saying these stupid things and also act according to these errors of thinking, that is why we are afraid of investing in our money, starting a business, and falling in love with someone, etc. You are harming yourself by this thinking pattern.
In conclusion:
None of the above thinking errors help us, so why do we still make these errors? Because the solutions to these thinking errors seem logical, and we think we are so smart that we don't even need to think about it, and that is exactly the point. We are not logical, and this is something we must not forget, and if we do that, our thinking errors become a permanent habit, and that is why we must change the errors of our thinking when we can.
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