How to Choose

In this episode we look at five lessons from the book 'Left Brain, Right Stuff: How Leaders Make Winning Decisions’ by Phil Rosenzweig. Rosenzweig challenges the assumption that the various biases and heuristics observed by behavioural economists such as Daniel Kahneman will automatically apply in all other arenas of life - and instead tries to demonstrate that the reality is more subtle. But Tess...

In this, our 50th episode, we chat with champion ultra trail runner Patricia McKibbin about the extraordinary world of competitive trail running and get some great tips on how to persevere when times get tough. Inspired by Trish's stories? You can follow her on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/trishmckibbin/

In episode 8 of season 5, we discuss the attribute of perseverance and why it is important for good decision making. Decision making can be hard work - unless we persevere, we risk settling for a poor choice. And having made that decision, we need perseverance to turn our good choice into a good outcome. If you're interested to learn more about this topic, you might want to grab the book 'Grit' by...

In episode 7 of season 5, we discuss the attribute of being reflective and why it is important for good decision making. And also why it’s essential for success in life more generally. WHAT TO DO? You can enhance your reflection by: schedule regular time to reflect ask yourself specific questions and consider getting an outside perspective reflect on your successes too, not just when things go wro...

Heraclitus famously said ‘change is the only constant in life’. We change - as we mature and age - and the world around us is constantly changing. Sometimes we are drivers of change, based on the choices we make. Sometimes change happens to us whether we like it or not. By being adaptable, we can navigate through our changing environment, learning from our mistakes and maximising our chances...

In episode 5 of season 5, we discuss the attribute of having courage and why it is important for good decision making. WHAT TO DO? You can enhance your own or your organisation’s courage by: leaving your ego at the door speaking less and listening more encourage dissent and admit when you are wrong deliberately seek out information, with an open mind LINKS Want to learn more about becoming more co...

In episode 4 of season 5, we discuss the attribute of being knowledge hungry and why it is important for good decision making. WHAT TO DO? You can enhance your hunger for knowledge by: reading every day, channel Warren Buffet deliberately seek out information, with an open mind, being open minded is key, otherwise all that new knowledge is not informing your decisions think like a scientist: accep...

In episode 3 of season 5, we discuss the attribute of realistic optimism and how it helps us be better decision-makers. SUMMARY Realistic optimism accepts the reality - both good and bad - of every situation, but applies a positive attitude to make the best of the situation and pursue our goals with energy Pessimism isn't the same as realism. Pessimism focuses on unlikely negative outcomes and ign...

In episode 2 of season 5, we discuss the attribute of purpose and why it is important for good decision making. And also why it’s essential for success in life more generally. WHAT TO DO? You can enhance your purpose by: setting short and medium term goals to keep you on track towards your bigger, purpose-driven goals, like being fit and healthy encouraging intrinsic motivation in others by asking...

In episode 1 of season 5, we discuss the attribute of curiosity and why it is important for good decision making. You'll also hear a short excerpt from our interview with Kirsten Siggins and Kathy Taberner - the full interview is available as a bonus episode. WHAT TO DO? You can enhance (or revive) your innate curiosity by: asking questions (don't let your pride quench your curiosity) getting outs...

In this episode we chat with Kirsten Siggins and Kathy Taberner, co-authors of 'The Power of Curiosity'. You can find out more about their work at www.instituteofcuriosity.com or follow them on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/kirstensiggins/) and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/instituteofcuriosity/).

Five lessons from two-time world debating champion Bo Seo's book 'Good Arguments'

In this episode we chat with Dr Patrick Kilcarr, a psychologist and adjunct professor at Georgetown University in Washington D.C. and author of the book ‘Leading an Emotionally Intelligent Life’. He covers so many different topics, including choosing to heal, and how our mindset can change our perception of things. Once we make the decision we want to grow, change or heal, we need to commit oursel...

In this interview, we chat with Erin Longmoon, CEO of employment company Zephyr Connects, about the process of selecting a new employee or new employer. Erin encourages us not to settle for second best when it comes to choosing a job. Erin also gives some tips on how to identify what a company or individual's real values are and explains why the social-emotional component of a workplace is so impo...

In this interview, we chat with coach Sarah Burrows. She focuses on helping her clients manage career shifts, and she shares some great insights about her own decision making journey too. Lots of tips for anyone contemplating taking a leap out of their current role. If you want to learn more, check out Sarah's website - https://www.achievingambition.com/ . You can also follow Sarah on Instagram @a...

In this interview, we chat with personal trainer, physical therapist, Iron Man competitor and all-round nice guy Dr Chris Boettcher about turning our health and fitness goals into results. As well as sharing some fitness hacks, Chris talks about his own life journey and his decision to leave his job as a physical therapist to pursue his passion project. Chris talks about the trick of 'stacking bri...

In this episode we chat with amazing percussionist, music teacher and author of the book 'How to Get Good', Tsoof Baras. We talk about how, having made the decision that we want to improve at something, we actually see that improvement manifested. You can listen to Tsoof's music, find out more about him and buy his book through his website www.tsoofbaras.com If you're enjoying the show, make sure...

This is the final part of a mini-series of three episodes in which we chat with Australian neuroscientist Dr Mark Williams. Dr Mark highlights why we should never stop learning, a lesson we live and breathe here at How to Choose! There are no more excuses that we’re just too old to learn something new. Old brains aren't less plastic, any difference is due to inactivity, not ageing. And finally he...

This is part 2 of a mini-series of three episodes in which we chat with Australian neuroscientist Dr Mark Williams. Dr Mark explains how mirror neurons work, and how essential they are, scientists actually think this is how babies learn to talk! So when speaking to your baby, face them so they can see how your lips move. Every time we get distracted we 'task switch', there's really no such thing a...

This is part 1 of our interview with neuroscientist Dr Mark Williams. Dr Mark shares his remarkable transformation from an angry student whose principal thought he'd end up dead or in prison to a professor of neuroscience. He takes us on a lightning tour of the parts of the brain involved in decision making and describes the remarkable way our brain presents us with an illusion of the world around...

This episode wraps up season three where we've explored the topic of thinking problems and we've looked at eight different biases that impede our decision making. A heuristic is a mental shortcut that helps us make quick, but often less than optimal decisions. The benefit is that they allow us to make quick decisions based on approximations, mental shortcuts, and educated guesses. But the downside...

In this episode we explore the heuristic known as groupthink, we find it hard to resist the pull of the group, and often end up conforming. There are actually two types of group think. Informative influence is when you are the non-expert and you trust that the group knows better. The other is normative influence : when you actually know better than the group, but you decide to conform rather than...

Ever find yourself unwilling to give something up, despite being convinced that this is the best decision? You might be suffering from loss aversion. KEY TAKEAWAYS Humans have a stronger emotional response to a loss than to a gain of equal value. As the decision lab points out, it's better to not lose $20 than it is to find $20 Loss aversion is closely related to something called the endowment eff...

Optimism bias refers to our tendency to overestimate the likelihood of experiencing positive events and underestimate the likelihood of experiencing negative events. An unfounded optimism can actually cause you to choose behaviours that are not in your best interest, because you underestimate the chance that bad things will happen to you. KEY TAKEAWAYS This is not about suppressing your optimism!...

How do you approach decisions or judgements that rest on the likelihood of something being true or the likelihood of something happening? Most of us find it difficult to take into account a critical factor known as the base rate. KEY TAKEAWAYS When it comes to making judgements and decisions, humans are hardwired to do a couple of things that are often - but not always - helpful. One thing that's...