Newsletter #84 – Agreement Half-Life, Decision Porn, Antihistamines

GREG’S RIGHT FIT NEWSLETTER #84
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Quick notes to help you get more done in less time. . . next week.

In this issue:

– Techniques for FIT
– Being Human
– Random Stuff

Techniques for FIT
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• Be aware of the half-life of agreements. Especially business agreements. Don’t assume that after a month, the other human will share your commitment. Check in.
• Another time saver: when a request is made of your time, ask for a reason, in a nice way of course. Be curious.
• I got a note from a reader asking why I was qualified to dispense advice about how he lives. Interesting take. I want to be aware of how I operate and these little notes are my way of relating how I do things. Use it as you wish. ​​​​​​
• What would really happen if you took an afternoon to yourself each week?

 

Being Human – Decision porn
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You? You just need to learn how to make better decisions.

One of my favorite books is Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman. He is an Israeli-American psychologist renowned for his work on judgment and decision-making which he applied to behavioral economics and was awarded the 2002 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences.

One exposed to his papers and thinking, I started reading everything I could get my hands on and watched whatever I could find on YouTube. It turns out I wasn’t the only one. There is a cottage industry that has sprung up around decision making, what I’ve come to refer to as decision porn.

I made note cards, practiced my logical fallacies, and waded around until I found a MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) that featured Kahneman. When interviewed in the course on improving decision making, Kahneman looked amused and the interviewer/instructor picked up on it asking, “Do you see a problem with wanting to improve decision making?”

Kahneman didn’t miss a beat. “I don’t think you can improve decision making.”

Since then, I’ve loosened my grip on trying to improve decison making, but still read about Kahneman. He cracks me up with his low key demeanor and incisive statements. Reading Michael Lewis’ book on Kahneman and Taversky, The Undoing Project, one passage stood out.

Danny and Lanir then presented their probabilities to Israel’s Foreign Ministry. (“The National Gamble,” they called their report.) Foreign Minister Allon looked at the numbers and said, “Ten percent increase? That is a small difference.”

Danny was stunned: if a 10 percent increase in the chances of full-scale war with Syria wasn’t enough to interest Allon in Kissinger’s peace process, how much would it take to turn his head? That number represented the best estimate of the odds. Apparently, the foreign minister didn’t want to rely on the best estimates. He preferred his own internal probability calculator: his gut. “That was the moment I gave up on decision analysis,” said Danny. “No one ever made a decision because of a number. They need a story.”

“That was the moment I gave up on decision analysis. . .” strong stuff from the renowned Dr. Daniel Kahneman.

 

Random Stuff
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Cada cabeza es un mundo

That little sentence is a Spanish proverb that basically translates to “every head is a world,” and there are times where I don’t want to know what’s in someone else’s head world.

This week I’m suffering through allergy attacks and I’m pumped full of anti-histamines. Based on my daydreams, you don’t want to know what’s going on in mine either.

 

Booking Calendar
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