1 00:00:04,280 --> 00:00:06,960 Speaker 1: Welcome to How I Work, a show about the tactics 2 00:00:07,040 --> 00:00:09,400 Speaker 1: used by leading innovators to get so much out of 3 00:00:09,440 --> 00:00:12,600 Speaker 1: their day. I'm your host, doctor Amantha Imba. I'm an 4 00:00:12,680 --> 00:00:16,520 Speaker 1: organizational psychologist, the CEO of Inventium, and I'm obsessed with 5 00:00:16,640 --> 00:00:21,000 Speaker 1: finding ways to optimize my work day. Today's mini episode 6 00:00:21,120 --> 00:00:24,000 Speaker 1: is about decision making because I feel like in the 7 00:00:24,120 --> 00:00:27,680 Speaker 1: lead up to Christmas, there are so many decisions that 8 00:00:27,720 --> 00:00:30,120 Speaker 1: we have to make, and certainly every day we make 9 00:00:30,240 --> 00:00:33,599 Speaker 1: hundreds of decisions, and even small decisions such as what 10 00:00:33,680 --> 00:00:36,080 Speaker 1: to eat for dinner can add up to have a 11 00:00:36,240 --> 00:00:40,160 Speaker 1: very big impact on our lives and health. And while 12 00:00:40,440 --> 00:00:44,440 Speaker 1: each day hopefully comes with many good decisions, most days 13 00:00:44,479 --> 00:00:47,440 Speaker 1: come with poor decisions, such as eating ice cream after 14 00:00:47,440 --> 00:00:50,640 Speaker 1: dinner despite being full, or buying a new pair of 15 00:00:50,680 --> 00:00:53,880 Speaker 1: shoes despite trying to save money for a home deposit. 16 00:00:54,600 --> 00:00:57,680 Speaker 1: And it's not surprising that we regularly make bad decisions, 17 00:00:57,880 --> 00:01:00,800 Speaker 1: given the majority of people have never been trained in 18 00:01:00,880 --> 00:01:05,080 Speaker 1: how to make good decisions. The good news is scientific 19 00:01:05,160 --> 00:01:08,039 Speaker 1: research can shed a great deal of light on how 20 00:01:08,080 --> 00:01:10,840 Speaker 1: to make better decisions, and I want to share with 21 00:01:10,880 --> 00:01:14,080 Speaker 1: you several ways that science has shown us will instantly 22 00:01:14,240 --> 00:01:18,800 Speaker 1: improve your decision making. Now, the first way that we 23 00:01:18,840 --> 00:01:22,000 Speaker 1: can improve our decision making is to never make big 24 00:01:22,000 --> 00:01:25,920 Speaker 1: decisions after lunch. So research into the topic of decision 25 00:01:25,920 --> 00:01:28,840 Speaker 1: fatigue has revealed that the more decisions we make over 26 00:01:28,840 --> 00:01:31,160 Speaker 1: the course of a day, the worse the quality of 27 00:01:31,200 --> 00:01:35,399 Speaker 1: those decisions become. We basically start every day with a 28 00:01:35,480 --> 00:01:39,400 Speaker 1: set amount of cognitive resources, and every single decision we make, 29 00:01:39,520 --> 00:01:43,039 Speaker 1: big or small, eats a way at these resources. And 30 00:01:43,120 --> 00:01:46,440 Speaker 1: as such, it makes sense to schedule your most important 31 00:01:46,480 --> 00:01:49,200 Speaker 1: decisions for first thing in the morning, or at least 32 00:01:49,280 --> 00:01:53,920 Speaker 1: before lunch, in order to optimize your decision making quality. Now, 33 00:01:53,960 --> 00:01:55,880 Speaker 1: the next thing that you can do is that you 34 00:01:55,920 --> 00:01:59,960 Speaker 1: can eat something. And while this might sound a bit strong, 35 00:02:00,480 --> 00:02:04,360 Speaker 1: you probably intuitively know that good eating decisions are not 36 00:02:04,520 --> 00:02:08,000 Speaker 1: made on an empty stomach, but scientists have actually found 37 00:02:08,000 --> 00:02:12,600 Speaker 1: evidence to confirm that this is true. The hormone grellin 38 00:02:12,880 --> 00:02:16,079 Speaker 1: is produced in the stomach when we're hungry, and when 39 00:02:16,080 --> 00:02:22,040 Speaker 1: it's produced, we actually make more impulsive decisions. So when 40 00:02:22,120 --> 00:02:24,960 Speaker 1: you next have a big decision to make, regardless of 41 00:02:24,960 --> 00:02:27,480 Speaker 1: whether it relates to food consumption or any other type 42 00:02:27,480 --> 00:02:30,760 Speaker 1: of decision, have a little snack before leaping into decision 43 00:02:30,840 --> 00:02:34,720 Speaker 1: making mode. The next thing. Next piece of advice I 44 00:02:34,800 --> 00:02:38,000 Speaker 1: have for you is to not make decisions with people 45 00:02:38,040 --> 00:02:41,639 Speaker 1: who are just like you, because often we default to 46 00:02:41,680 --> 00:02:44,800 Speaker 1: making decisions, especially work related ones, with people who are 47 00:02:44,960 --> 00:02:49,080 Speaker 1: just like us. The familiarity heuristic suggests that we prefer 48 00:02:49,160 --> 00:02:51,880 Speaker 1: the familiar to the novel, and as such, we often 49 00:02:51,919 --> 00:02:53,720 Speaker 1: tend to hang out with and work with people who 50 00:02:53,720 --> 00:02:56,840 Speaker 1: are just like us. But when it comes to decision making, 51 00:02:57,240 --> 00:03:01,120 Speaker 1: scientists have found that we need to deliberately introduced diversity 52 00:03:01,200 --> 00:03:05,640 Speaker 1: to arrive at better decisions. Research from Tuft's University found 53 00:03:05,720 --> 00:03:10,160 Speaker 1: that racially diverse groups performed significantly better on decision making 54 00:03:10,200 --> 00:03:14,880 Speaker 1: tasks compared to racially homogeneous groups. For example, in one study, 55 00:03:15,080 --> 00:03:18,600 Speaker 1: mock juries consisting of both white and black people compared 56 00:03:18,639 --> 00:03:22,840 Speaker 1: to all white juries, had broader deliberations, made fewer factual errors, 57 00:03:23,040 --> 00:03:26,120 Speaker 1: and recalled more facts about the case that were incorporated 58 00:03:26,160 --> 00:03:29,160 Speaker 1: into the final decision. Now, the final tip I have 59 00:03:29,680 --> 00:03:34,280 Speaker 1: is to practice mindfulness for fifteen minutes. So many bad 60 00:03:34,280 --> 00:03:37,200 Speaker 1: decisions can be related to the sunk cost fallacy, whereby 61 00:03:37,280 --> 00:03:40,520 Speaker 1: the more you've invested in something, the more psychologically difficult 62 00:03:40,560 --> 00:03:43,840 Speaker 1: it is to abandon. But research has shown that engaging 63 00:03:43,880 --> 00:03:48,840 Speaker 1: in fifteen minutes of mindfulness meditation actually increases our resistance 64 00:03:48,880 --> 00:03:52,480 Speaker 1: to the sunk cost fallacy. So that is where more 65 00:03:52,880 --> 00:03:56,320 Speaker 1: easily able to stay focused on the present as opposed 66 00:03:56,320 --> 00:04:00,560 Speaker 1: to dwelling on the past. So another reason to have 67 00:04:00,680 --> 00:04:05,400 Speaker 1: a mindfulness habit. So hopefully these four strategies into how 68 00:04:05,400 --> 00:04:08,400 Speaker 1: to make better decisions are helpful in your life when 69 00:04:08,440 --> 00:04:11,160 Speaker 1: you are facing your decision. And who knows, maybe if 70 00:04:11,160 --> 00:04:13,400 Speaker 1: you've got a big decision to make today, you can 71 00:04:13,440 --> 00:04:17,600 Speaker 1: apply one or more of those strategies. That's it for 72 00:04:17,680 --> 00:04:22,279 Speaker 1: today's episode. If you enjoyed it, then I would love 73 00:04:22,360 --> 00:04:25,080 Speaker 1: it if you would spend just maybe I reckon it 74 00:04:25,080 --> 00:04:27,840 Speaker 1: would take ten seconds to leave a review for this 75 00:04:27,880 --> 00:04:31,520 Speaker 1: podcast in iTunes. You can simply give it a star rating, 76 00:04:31,839 --> 00:04:34,000 Speaker 1: or you could even write a few words to describe 77 00:04:34,320 --> 00:04:37,560 Speaker 1: how you felt about it. And if you haven't already 78 00:04:37,560 --> 00:04:39,960 Speaker 1: subscribed to this podcast, but you're listening to it and 79 00:04:40,040 --> 00:04:43,480 Speaker 1: you liked it, hip a subscribe button wherever you get 80 00:04:43,480 --> 00:04:47,920 Speaker 1: your podcasts, and you'll be alerted whenever new episodes are released. 81 00:04:48,120 --> 00:04:50,400 Speaker 1: Thanks so much for listening, and see you next time.