This is optimal living daily episode 1404 confirmation bias. Why you make terrible Life Choices by near a all of near and far.com and I mean narrator Justin moloch reading you blogs or articles every single day of the year to help you live a more meaningful life covering personal growth self-help, minimalism productivity happiness and more before we get to it if you have a business or you know, someone who does you probably know that small business owners wear a lot of hats. I definitely do some of those hats are totally great but some like filing taxes and running payroll, for example, not so great. That's where Augusto comes in custom makes payroll taxes and H are actually easy for small businesses fast simple payroll processing benefits and simple management tools all in one place Augusto automatically pays and files your federal state and local taxes. So you don't have to worry about it. Plus they make it easy to add on health benefits even 401 K's for your team those old school. All clunky payroll providers just weren't built for the way modern small businesses work, but Gusto is and better yet. Now is the best time to get set up for the new year. Don't wait listeners get three months free when they run their first payroll try a demo and see for yourself at Gusto.com old that's gu sto.com / o LD for now. Let's get right to the post as we optimize your life. confirmation bias why you make terrible Life Choices by near a all of near and far.com You walk into your first yoga class. You're a little insecure about your weight and how your yoga clothes cling to your body revealing every flaw. You're nervous about making a fool of yourself your eyes instantly zoom on to the fit model ask people chatting in the corner as you walk past them your ears pick up the tinkle of laughter my God, are they laughing at me? Because spot on the back of the classroom where no one can see you the teacher asks everyone to get into a crouching fish pose to people know this pose. You flail around on your mat and fall over was a big thump. You look up to make sure no one saw you the guy next to you is hiding a smirk. I knew it. Everyone is laughing at me. You avert your gaze after class run out of there and vow to never do yoga again confirmation bias strikes again in the yoga class, you look for instances that confirmed your insecurities. The models were laughing at you. The guy who's smirked when you fell you ignored other instances, that didn't prove your He's basically everyone else in the class who barely took notice of you confirmation bias is the human tendency to seek interpret and remember information that confirms pre-existing beliefs. It is Insidious. It affects every choice you make every single day the things you choose to buy your health who you choose to marry your career your emotions your finances it all happens in the background without you noticing. How does confirmation bias work confirmation bias affects you in three ways number one how you seek information confirmation bias affects how you look at the world around you when you're alone at home feeling lousy you immediately jump onto Facebook or Instagram you look at pictures of people traveling partying getting married and think everyone, you know is living a great life. You say to yourself. I'm such a lonely loser. You sit at home and feel all because you chose to seek information. Shin that confirms your crummy feelings you knew looking at those photos would make you feel worse, but you sought them anyway number two how you interpret the information in front of you confirmation bias also affects how you process. What is otherwise neutral information? It tends to favor your beliefs when you are falling in love. All you senior partner is a beautiful perfect Adonis. You don't notice a single flaw when that relationships hours all of a sudden all you see are flaws. His coffee breath is pension for droning endlessly about a topic you don't care about the hair is he leaves in the sink? You are dating the exact same person, but you perceive the things he or she does differently based on how you feel number three how you remember things even your memories are affected by confirmation bias you interpret and possibly even change memories and facts in your head based on your beliefs in a classic experiment Princeton and Dartmouth students were shown a game between the two schools. At the end Princeton students remembered more fouls committed by Dartmouth and Dartmouth students. Remember more fouls committed by Princeton both groups of students fundamentally believe their school was better. So they tended to remember and recall more instances that show their school and a good light and the opposing School in a bad light. Why am I like this you seek evidence that confirms your beliefs because being wrong feels crummy being wrong means you're not as smart as you thought so you end up seeking information that Confirms what you already know in a famous experiment when participants were presented with evidence counter to their political beliefs areas of their brain associated with physical pain became more active. It's as if being wrong physically hurts, it's easy to accept opposing views when it concerns things you don't care about but you also have deep-seated beliefs that form a core part of your identity like that. You're a kind person that your political views are correct evidence that runs counter to these beliefs. Often causes cognitive dissonance a feeling of immense Stress and Anxiety cognitive dissonance triggers a fight or flight response. You either dig in your heels and double down on your existing beliefs fight or get away from the opposing fact flight your brains primary goal is self-protection, your brains primary goal is self-protection and this applies both physically and psychologically when opposing facts challenge your identity your brain perceives the psychological threat It and protects you as if it was an actual physical threat, there's just too much information to process. It takes tremendous effort to hold opposing hypotheses and try to evaluate evidence for and against each one. So your brain optimizes for the fastest shortcut to a solution. It's too much work to evaluate contradictory information and figure out what's right. It's easier to look for two or three things to support your current view point. So what can I do about it? Number one approach life with curiosity not conviction when you walk into every interaction trying to prove yourself, right? You're going to succumb to confirmation bias researchers study two groups of children in school the first group avoided challenging problems because it came with a high risk of being wrong. The other actively sought them out for the learning opportunity, even though they might be wrong the second group consistently outperformed the first Focus Less on being Right and more on experiencing life with curiosity and wonder when you're willing to be wrong you open yourself up to new insights number to see can understand disagreement understanding various viewpoints can help you refine your perspective according to researchers. You can actually change your deep-seated beliefs the trick surround yourself with a variety of opposing viewpoints. Say you're buying a house and you loved one in particular ask a friend to play Devil's Advocate and proposed reasons for not buying this. House that we can make sure you're seeing more than just your Viewpoint and make a rational decision. Number three think about thinking to fight back against cognitive biases. You need to evaluate your instinctive reactions. The next time you run across facts that completely confirm your worldview. Stop think about the assumptions you're making and look for ways to prove yourself wrong. Say you're a coffee lover. You need your morning Cuppa to properly function when you're browsing your Facebook feed articles touting the benefits. Benefits of coffee you will instantly grab your attention. It's easy to read these articles and go aha that confirms all my life choices the next time you catch yourself doing that try to actively search for information that contradicts what you believe in conclusion confirmation bias is an unavoidable part of how you make decisions. It's an evolutionary trait that colors how you view the world and it's not something you can always overcome, but when you're making big decisions decisions about your health finances love life, You want to mitigate its effects the best you can learning in understanding how confirmation bias Works gives you the opportunity to compensate for its downsides and make more rational decisions. So next time you're going from Crouching fish pose to flying's you Ava don't worry. No one's looking at you. You just listen to The Post titled confirmation bias. Why you make terrible Life Choices by near a all of near and far.com. Don't forget Gusto offers modern easy payroll and benefits to small businesses across the country. They are even named best online payroll by PC mag. Get three months free. When you run your first payroll at Gusto.com old and don't wait. Now's the best time to get set up for 2020. That's Augusto.com / o LD I'll do for today. Have a great day, and I'll see you tomorrow as usual where your optimal life awaits.
Nir Eyal shares why you make terrible life choices. Episode 1404: Confirmation Bias: Why You Make Terrible Life Choices by Nir Eyal of Nir And Far on How to Live with Curiosity Nir Eyal writes, consults, and teaches about the intersection of psychology, technology, and business. The M.I.T. Technology Review dubbed Nir, “The Prophet of Habit-Forming Technology.”  Nir founded two tech companies since 2003 and has taught at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford. He is the author of the bestselling book, Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products. In addition to blogging at NirAndFar.com, Nir’s writing has been featured in The Harvard Business Review, TechCrunch, and Psychology Today. Nir is also an active investor in habit-forming technologies. Some of his past investments include: Eventbrite, Product Hunt, Pantry, Marco Polo, Presence Learning, 7 Cups, Pana, Symphony Commerce, Worklife (acquired by Cisco) and Refresh.io (acquired by LinkedIn). Nir attended The Stanford Graduate School of Business and Emory University. Facebook Group and Join the Ol' Family to get your Free Gifts! Gusto is making payroll, benefits, and HR easy for small businesses. Get 3 months free once you run your first payroll with our link: Gusto.com/OLD  ---   Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/optimal-living-daily/support 