There are moments when life’s complexities cloud our thinking, making it challenging to arrive at good decisions.
The book, “Clear Thinking,” authored by Shane Parrish, the writer of the Farnam Street newsletter (which I have been subscribed to for quite some time), provides a methodology for gaining different perspectives to enhance decision-making, and as suggested by the title, it gives us clear thinking.
This book seems fitting for me to read at this moment, especially following the completion of “Atomic Habits.”
📖 Book I Read:
Clear Thinking: Turning Ordinary Moments into Extraordinary Results by Shane Parrish
🗂️ Type of Book:
- Self-help
- Personal Development
- Psychology
🔑 Keywords:
- Our first step in improving our outcomes is to train ourselves to identify the moment when judgment is called for in the first place and pause to create space to think clearly.
- Four default instinct
1. The emotion default
2. The ego default
3. The social default
4. Inertia default
🫱 Key Takeaways:
- It is crucial to consistently practice recognizing the four defaults when making decisions.
- The four defaults are emotion, ego, social, and inertia.
- Before taking any action, step back, take a breather, and ask “What am I trying to achieve?”
- Life gets easier when we don’t blame other people (or circumstances) and focus on what we can control.
👷 How I apply it:
- Take, for example, a situation where there’s a discounted offer on a guitar that I want. I need to be mindful of whether my decision is being influenced by the emotional default or the social default. Following this, I should introspect and ask myself, “What am I trying to achieve by buying this new guitar?” This reflective process enhances the satisfaction derived from the decision to purchase the guitar.
📚 Other reference(s) I need to explore:
- Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
- Good to Great by Jim Collins