We are humans. And because we are humans, we need to understand how we, or actually our brains, work. Though we can already rely on decades of brain research, we still understand only partially what is happening right up there. The funny thing about that knowledge we gained is that we can actually use that in our creativity to do things differently and a bit steer the way we think and take actions. I am not a brain scientist, though I have been reading and absorbing quite some knowledge around that topic. And even that limited part is already good enough to define first steps into better decisions and actions.
A statement that I have heard quite often throughout the years is “Do not assume anything”. Unfortunately we are not able to live without assumptions. Most of our brain processing is automatic and some (oldest) parts of our brains are actually bypassing the active mode of our brains in order to protect us. Then it was against real danger, like bears or falling into canyons. You most probably know this as the “flight, fight or freeze” mode. Research shows that we cannot discriminate between real (physical) danger and “danger” from other sources, which is for example the reason why we can really get afraid if we watch a horror movie even though we do know it is not real. Apart from that, interpreting everything costs a lot of energy, which might result into “overcooking” our brains.
Therefore I believe that the best we can do is understanding and accepting many of those autopilot parts in our thoughts and try to challenge those that are relevant enough to challenge. That brings me to the next important understanding: our personality, background (culture, upbringing, education etc.) and experiences have brought us where we are today: a (unique) human being, with our own unique way of thinking. And most of our thinking to done automatically, including our own personal filtering of the data and information presented to us. In between more than 50 different types of biases have been discovered. And we are biased most of the time, though the type of biases applicable differs from individual to individual. Even “objective” data tends to be interpreted through filter lenses most of the time, so gets affected by our biases most of the time thus are not so “objective” anymore.
Of course I need to mention that there could be many other reasons why the information interpreted by us could be influenced as well, like wrong data or lack of information. A bias is however quite often the reason why we limit the potential outcome of a thought process.
Luckily we can do something about it. Together with accepting the fact that we cannot live without assumptions, we still can challenge those assumptions that may stand us in the way of exploring the “best possible” solution. We are typically working in complex environments and the we are complex as well, so we have learned that running experiments is a good approach to discover what works well and what not. However, our own biases quite often prevent us from discovering “other” valuable options. So we should challenge our own biases.
You need a lot of self mastery to know and understand your own biases. Gaining more understanding of your own biases can be done by questioning yourself on what caused you not “seeing” other options. Since most of us work in systems, groups of people in which each individual has its own set of biases, the simple fact that someone else comes with a solution or idea that could have occurred in your mind as well, may be a signal that a bias could have kicked in.
And of course you can do more. Rather than jumping into conclusions, you may give yourself some additional time to reflect before jumping into the actions. Or you take some time to feel what your body (or actually your brain) is telling you, to discover that your autopilot is limiting some potential ways since you do not feel comfortable or even scared about it. Explaining the line of thinking to yourself or journalling are additional ways that you can use to create more awareness. And last but not least, I have discovered that (professional) coaching is a very effective way to discover your own limiting beliefs. That one however does require some work on the limiting belief that “coaching is not for me”…
