How to Have a Good Day: Harness the Power of Behavioral Science to Transform Your Working Life

by Caroline Webb

MAKING WISE DECISIONS Next time you have a choice to make, whether big or small: Notice when your automatic system is talking. “It’s obviously right [or obviously wrong].” “I recently heard XYZ…therefore…” “Everyone agrees.” “I understand it—so I like it!” “Let’s just stick with what we know.” “There’s only one real option.” Adopt a cross-check routine. Try each of these cross-check questions, and decide to make at least one of them part of your personal routine: • Don’t default: “What would be another option, and what do its advantages tell me?” • Play devil’s advocate: “What would be another way of seeing this?” • Mandate dissent: “If you had to raise a concern, what would you say?” • Never say never: “Is it always/never/absolutely the case?” • Conduct a pre-mortem: “If this goes horribly wrong, what will have caused that?” Watch out for system fatigue. If you feel impatient, distracted, or clumsy, give your deliberate system a mindful pause. Shift your focus to more routine tasks. Take extra cross-checking steps to compensate for your automatic system’s shortcuts. Resolve dilemmas with greater ease. Ask “What could I do?” rather than “What should I do?”