Elon Musk. it should be taught to all at a young age

Elon Musk reposted an infographic which was titled ‘50 Cognitive biases to be aware of so you can be the best version of yourself’. He captioned the post "should be taught to all at a young age".

Cognitive biases are shortcuts your mind uses when you need to make a decision quickly. They can cause you to act against your best interests or the most logical option.

1. Fundamental Attribution Error: We judge others on their personality or fundamental character, but we judge ourselves on the situation. 

2. Self-Serving Bias: Our failures are situational, but our successes are our responsibility.

3. In-Group Favoritism: We favor people who are in our in-group as opposed to an out-group.

4. Bandwagon Effect: Ideas, fads and beliefs grow as more people adopt them.

5. Groupthink: Due to a desire for conformity and harmony in the group, we make irrational decisions, often to minimize conflict.

6. Halo Effect: If you see a person as having a positive trait, that positive impression will spill over into their other traits. (This also works for negative traits).

7. Moral Luck: Better moral standing happens due to a positive outcome; worse moral standing happens due to a negative outcome.

8. False Consensus: We believe more people agree with us than is actually the case.

4 mental models for smarter decision making

1. 10/10/10 Rule

Most of us have been guilty of making decisions without thinking about the long term consequences, and the 10/10/10/ rule can used to reflect on the long-term by asking yourself:

• How will we feel about it 10 minutes from now?
• How about 10 months from now?
• How about 10 years from now?
  

It’s easy to make short-term decisions that may be beneficial 10 minutes or 10 months from now, but these types of decisions usually don’t benefit us in the long-term. What’s harder is to make decisions that may not appear attractive or impactful in the short-term, but over time can have a positive impact in your life.

Whenever you’re struggling to go to the gym, resist temptations to eat junk food, or overcoming the difficulties of learning a new skill, use the 10/10/10/ Rule to think not only about how you’ll feel about it later today, but also years from today.

2. Pareto’s Law

In anything we do, there’s always ~20% of activities that will deliver 80% of our desired results.

The origin of Pareto’s Law came from an Italian Economist, Vilfredo Pareto, who noticed that 80% of wealth and land were controlled by only 20% of the people. Today, this concept has been applied to business, health, expenditures, etc.