Your Brain is Playing Tricks On You - 18 Surprising Biases That Control Your Life with Dr. Daniel Crosby

In this episode we discuss why it’s so important to study and understand psychology if you want to master any aspect of life. We look at evolutionary science behind how your brain can often play tricks on you. We share a simple and impactful model from psychology for dealing with stressful and tough situations, and we discuss the dangerous illusion of the “quest for certainty” and how you should actively embrace taking risks in your life with our guest Dr. Daniel Crosby.

Dr. Daniel Crosby is a psychologist and behavioral finance expert who helps organizations understand the intersection of mind and markets. His most recent book, The Behavioral Investor, provides an expert look at the useful mix of psychology and investment science. His work has appeared in the Huffington Post and Risk Management Magazine, as well as his monthly columns for WealthManagement.com and Investment News.In order to understand how the financial and capital markets work - we have to understand human behavior.Since almost everything we do is largely a function of interacting with humans - in order to understand life, business, the world - we have to understand human behavior and the human mindEvidence based growth is a powerful niche - because the leadership and personal development space is full of voodoo, bad thinking, and wrong common sense The evidence based approach is harder but ultimately much more fulfilling and impactfulThings that have served us well from an evolutionary perspective often serve us poorly in the modern world and the financial markets The human brain hasn’t been upgraded in over 200,000 years. Your 200,000 year old brain is trying to cope with systems that are tens if not hundreds of years old - this leads to a number of problems and issues. We are wired to act - we feel a burning need to take action and do something - and yet often times the best investment strategy is to do nothing The best performing investors are people who either died or forgot about their trading account! “Success begets failure.” As you win, you become more convinced of your skill, and you start to make worse and worse decisions,  becoming sloppy and undisciplined You must be a rules based, systematic investor when it comes to decision-making. There is a very real, physical side, of dealing with stressful and difficult situationsBefore you do any interventions to prevent anxiety - you can get a HUGE amount of mileage out of taking basic care of your body - sleeping better, drinking less caffeine, getting in some moderate exercise.We are more than what happens to us - at any time we can change our RESPONSE to any stimulus.There is NO substitute for TAKING RISK, DOING HARD THINGS and SINKING AND SWIMMING ON YOUR OWN MERITS. In our best efforts to protect ourselves from harm we bring about the very thing we are trying to avoid. You aren’t really protecting yourself - you’re bringing about the absolute realization of what you’re really scared of. The quest for certainty is very dangerous. There is uncertainty. It’s part of the game. The alternative of embracing uncertainty is to always settle for the lowest common denominator.The “backfire effect” - often times when presented with data and evidence that disagrees with people’s world view, people often become MORE committed to their idea or belief than they were before. Meet people who don’t share your beliefs and try to understand why they hold the beliefs that they do. Homework: Go somewhere that makes you uncomfortable.Homework: Seek first to get your own house in order. Take a hard look at yourself.

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