Clear Thinking: Turning Ordinary Moments into Extraordinary Results

Our desire to fit in with the group comes from our history. Group interests were well served from a high level of conformity. But so too were our individual interests. Survival inside the tribe was hard but survival outside the tribe was impossible. Because we needed the group, our individual interests became secondary to the group interests. Thoug

Confidence doesn’t make bad outcomes any less likely or good outcomes more likely, it only blinds us to risk. The ego also makes us more concerned with maintaining or improving our perceived position in a social hierarchy than with extending our knowledge or skills.

While the rest of us are chasing victory, the best in the world know they must avoid losing before they can win. It turns out this is a surprisingly effective strategy.

He wanted to show others his value and importance. He wanted others to see him the way he saw himself. When they didn’t, he stopped exercising judgment, and ended up going down in history for all the wrong reasons. Who hasn’t found themselves in a similar situation? Someone close to you doesn’t appreciate you the way you want to be appreciated. Per

You can put energy into things you control or things you don’t control. All the energy you put toward things you don’t control comes out of the energy you can put toward the things you can.

Emotions can make even the best of us into idiots, driving us away from clear thinking. They often have help, though. Later we’ll see some of the many inbuilt biological vulnerabilities that leave us even more exposed to the emotion default’s influence: sleep deprivation, hunger, fatigue, emotion, distraction, stress from feeling rushed, and being

The emotion default: we tend to respond to feelings rather than reasons and facts. The ego default: we tend to react to anything that threatens our sense of self-worth or our position in a group hierarchy. The social default: we tend to conform to the norms of our larger social group. The inertia default: we’re habit forming and comfort seeking. We

Most people go through life assuming that they’re right … and that people who don’t see things their way are wrong.2 We mistake how we want the world to be with how it actually is.

The emotion default: we tend to respond to feelings rather than reasons and facts. The ego default: we tend to react to anything that threatens our sense of self-worth or our position in a group hierarchy. The social default: we tend to conform to the norms of our larger social group. The inertia default: we’re habit forming and comfort seeking. We