Page 129 - End Procrastination Now Get it Done with a Proven Psychological Approach

Act Decisively 97

Awareness: You can recognize an Action: Flip things around and try
illusion by its results. If you believe to disconfirm the psychological
that you need to make perfect deci- illusions that come across your
sions, you’ll lose opportunity after awareness screen. For example, ask
opportunity. Lost opportunity is a yourself, “Where is the uncontest-
result. able evidence that the decision I
am tempted to make is fact-based?
What are the facts that support
the decision?”

Overreliance on Heuristics

In an unfamiliar situation, you may rely on heuristics, or exam-
ples, to guide your decisions. These rules of thumb, common
sense, or selected tidbits or examples from experience take many
forms. “When in doubt, flip a coin” is a heuristic.
Heuristics can map a path to better planning and decision
making. You may profitably use a heuristic of mentally working
back from a future time when you’ve achieved a goal. By reflecting
on the steps you took, you may help yourself get past a planning
bottleneck.
When there are gaps in your knowledge and you have virtually
no time to study an issue, trusting your feelings may be the best
thing to do. If something doesn’t feel right, it may not be right.
You’re offered a deal that you have to decide on right away. It
sounds too good to be true. You rely on emotional cues and past
experience to assess the offer. You pass on the deal. However, some
heuristics have a downside in that they lead to poor decisions, and
some hide procrastination.

• Heuristics sometimes work well enough. However, rules of
thumb can lead to distortions and bad decisions. You believe
that someone who looks you straight in the eye is honest,
but here is a paradox: pathological liars will normally look
straight at you, whereas a shy but unusually honest person
may avoid eye contact.