Decide and Conquer

Part I: Introduction 1




Chapter 1: Decision Making Shapes Your Life 3
Chapter 2: The Search for Rationality 7
Chapter 3: Why It's Hard to Be Rational 11



Part II: How Do You Make Decisions? 17




Chapter 4: What's Your Decision Style? 19
Chapter 5: Are You a Risk-Taker? 23
Chapter 6: Are You a Maximizer or Satisficer? 27
Chapter 7: Who Controls Your Destiny? 29
Chapter 8: Do You Procrastinate? 33
Chapter 9: Are You Impulsive? 35
Chapter 10: Can You Control Your Emotions? 39
Chapter 11: Are You Overconfident? 43
Chapter 12: Understanding Your Personality Profile 45



Part III: Common Biases and Errors That Most of Us Make (and How to Overcome Them) 49




Chapter 13: How Can You Be So Darn Sure About That? Coping with Overconfidence 51
Chapter 14: Never Do Today That Which You Can Do Tomorrow: The Inertia Bias 55
Chapter 15: I Want It, and I Want It NOW! The Immediate Gratification Bias 59
Chapter 16: Where You End Up Depends on Where You Start: The Anchoring Effect 63
Chapter 17: I'll See It When I Believe It: The Selective Perception Bias 67
Chapter 18: I Hear What I Want to Hear: The Confirmation Bias 71
Chapter 19: Is the Glass Half Empty or Half Full? The Framing Bias 75
Chapter 20: What Have You Done for Me Lately? The Availability Bias 79
Chapter 21: Looks Can Be Deceiving: The Representation Bias 83
Chapter 22: Seeing Patterns That Aren't There: Coping with Randomness 87
Chapter 23: I Only Like Change That Jingles in My Pocket: The Familiarity Bias 91
Chapter 24: Gone Is Not Always Forgotten: Understanding Sunk Costs 95
Chapter 25: Keep It Simple: The Limited Search Error 99
Chapter 26: Losing Your Head in the Heat of Battle: The Emotional Involvement Error 103
Chapter 27: Who You Gonna Blame? The Self-Serving Bias 107
Chapter 28: Novelty Wears Off: The Adaptation Bias 111
Chapter 29: I Knew It All the Time: The Hindsight Bias 115



Part IV: Advice Your Mother Never Gave You 119




Chapter 30: Clear Goals and Preferences Make Choosing a Lot Easier 121
Chapter 31: Sometimes Doing Nothing Is Your Best Option 125
Chapter 32: Choosing Not to Decide Is Still a Decision 129
Chapter 33: Decisions Are Not Made in Isolation 133
Chapter 34: All Decisions Aren't Important 137
Chapter 35: More Information Isn't Necessarily Better 141
Chapter 36: You Can Have Too Much of a Good Thing 145
Chapter 37: Don't Rehash Past Decisions 149
Chapter 38: Successful People Take Risks 153
Chapter 39: It's Okay to Make Mistakes, or No One Has an Undefeated Season 157
Chapter 40: Experience Can Improve Decisions, But 161
Chapter 41: Where You're from Influences How You Decide 165



Part V: An Epilogue 169




Chapter 42: Summary, or Why Ignorance Isn't Bliss 171




Endnotes 177


Index 199