Making Decisions: An Insider's Look at How To Make Better Life Choices
Making Better Decisions
We have more decisions to make than ever before. Careers, friendships, health, and finances all demand making good choices. But experts agree that unconscious biases skew our perception. This distortion creates blind spots on our options. The better you understand these blind spots, the better you’ll be able to steer around these mental obstacles to make wiser life choices.
No one wants to look back on their life and wonder if they could have done better. Making decisions we can be proud of is what we want in order to build the best life possible. Here we’ll show you how to leverage effective decision making to make better life choices that meet your goals and maximize your strengths.
Top Articles on Decision Making
The Magic of Now, Not How
Decoding Self-Serving Bias: A Spy’s Guide to Clear Thinking
Don’t Write About What You Already Know — Instead, I’m “Writing To Learn”
Choice Architecture: Your Decisions Aren’t Entirely Yours (Interview with Eric Johnson)
Nir’s Note: Eric Johnson teaches at the Columbia Business School where he is the Director of the Center for Decision Sciences. He has authored some...
How to Play The Long Game: Interview with Dorie Clark
Nir’s Note: Entrepreneur, speaker and consultant, Dorie Clark is a recognized leader in the field of executive education, a topic she teaches at...
Why Do People Believe the ‘Social Media is Mind Control’ Myth?
In our search for easy answers, we give up control.The evidence is overwhelming: we are far more powerful than the technology that is supposedly...
Why the Illusion of Control Is Hurting Your Goals
A classic survivor test shows us how the illusion of control can sidetrack us from our mission when things get uncomfortableLet’s try something....
Ashley Stahl: Former National Security Expert Helps Us Get Unstuck
Ashley Stahl is a counter-terrorism professional turned career coach, speaker, and, most recently, author of You Turn, a book about getting unstuck,...
Hindsight Bias: Why You Make Terrible Life Choices
Don’t Follow Your Gut (and What to Do Instead)
How should we make decisions in life? Dr. Gleb Tsipursky, a behavioral economist and cognitive neuroscientist, says that whatever you do, Never Go...
Why You Don’t Have to Be a Rocket Scientist to Think Like One
If you looked up the word “polymath” in the dictionary, you may see a picture of Ozan Varol. He teaches at Lewis & Clark Law School in Portland,...
Why We Should All Be Wearing (and Making) Face Masks Right Now
Everyone should be wearing a face mask now, whether they are sick or healthy. We can make our own masks to ensure we're not taking them away from...
Fundamental Attribution Error: Why You Make Lousy Life Choices
Nir’s Note: This post part of a series on cognitive bias co-authored by Nir Eyal and illustrated by Lakshmi Mani. Discover other reasons you make...
Peak-End Rule: Why You Make Terrible Life Choices
Nir’s Note: This post part of a series on cognitive bias co-authored with and illustrated by Lakshmi Mani. Discover other reasons you make terrible...
Distinction Bias: Why You Make Terrible Life Choices
Nir’s Note: This post part of a series on cognitive bias co-authored with and illustrated by Lakshmi Mani. Discover other reasons you make terrible...
Confirmation Bias: Why You Make Terrible Life Choices
Hyperbolic Discounting: Why You Make Terrible Life Choices
The Strange Way Being “Good” Hurts Your Willpower
Nir’s Note: This guest post is by Paulette Perhach. Paulette writes about finances, psychology, technology, travel, and better living for the likes...
What Do You Do When Someone “Steals” Your Amazing Idea?
The subject line read: “did you see this?” The message was from my editor Jen. “Nir, I saw the headline on this story and thought it might be...
This Weird Research-Backed Goal Setting Hack Actually Works
Nir's Note: This article on goal setting was originally published in early 2016 but got such a great reader response that I decided to expand and...
Would You Take A Bet That Would Change Your Life? Probably Not. Here’s Why
Changing habits is hard. But what if there was a way to dramatically improve your odds of quitting even your worst habits? What if this method was...
Everything Is Obvious (Once You Know The Answer) Book Review
Here's the Gist: Duncan Watts is a sociologist and principal researcher at Microsoft Research. His latest book is Everything Is Obvious (Once You...
3 Ways to Make Better Decisions Using “The Power of Noticing”
Nir’s Note: This book review is by Sam McNerney. Sam writes about cognitive psychology, business, and philosophy.In Moneyball, Michael Lewis tells...
Mind Hacking a Book
“Hi Nir,” the email began. “I have been reading your work and find it incredibly interesting.” Naturally, this is the kind of message a blogger...
The Power of No
Nir's Note: Is "no" the most powerful word in the English language? In this guest post Chikodi Chima explores the power of no and what happens when...
Think You Like What You Like? Think Again
A funny thing happens when you lie to people: they tend to believe. Why shouldn’t they? They lie to themselves all the time. Our minds are wired to...
Why Positive Thinking is Bad For You
Oliver Burkeman's new book, The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can't Stand Positive Thinking, challenges many widely-held assumptions. In this...