Isn’t inconvenience all about perception? What may be a real pain for you may be only a minor annoyance, or even a positive opportunity, for me. Can we change our own thinking? To do so, we have to confront our biases. Things like[1]:
- Anchoring-getting locked on the first thing we see/hear
- Availability-overestimating information we can access easily
- Confirmation-selectively listening only to what supports our forgone conclusion
- Heuristics-using short cuts or rules of thumb based on past decisions
- Ostrich Effect-burying our heads in the sand when new information disrupts our world
- Sunk Costs and Escalation of Commitment-continuing down paths that aren’t working
Or maybe it’s our overall affect (i.e. optimism or pessimism). Do we expect things to turn out badly or to go our way? Which one yields better results and a happier life?
What about success? Success as an inconvenience. Does it make us complacent? Overconfident? Greedy? Work harder? Stronger? Less fragile[2]?
Most inconveniences are not all that inconvenient. They almost always grant us a chance to pause, reflect, re-evaluate, and adjust for the better precisely when needed most.
What inconvenience can make you better, less fragile, and even more successful today? What are you going to do about it?
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[1] 20 Cognitive Biases That Screw Up Your Decisions, https://www.businessinsider.com.au/cognitive-biases-that-affect-decisions-2015-8
[2] Commencement Address 2016, Taleb, N. N., https://fooledbyrandomness.com/AUBCommencement.pdf
