Thinking about Thinking
In Confessions, Augustine of Hippo reflects on stealing pears—not out of need, but for the act itself—and is left with an unsettling question:
Why did I do what I did?
Daniel Kahneman, the Nobel-prize winning psychologist, described two broad modes of thinking: one, fast and instinctive, and the other, slower and more deliberate. Problems arise when we rely on instinct where reflection is needed or overthink what could have been seen more simply. This raises a further question:
When should I stop and reflect, and when can I trust instinct?
When it comes to willpower, there is a tendency to think of it as something that must be summoned—a force to resist impulse. In The Way to Will Power, Henry Hazlitt suggested something simpler: that what we call willpower is often a matter of decision—the ability to favour longer-term consequences over immediate impulse.
What am I really choosing: the immediate or the longer-term?
How then do we take decisions?
These questions are simply a starting point. There are, of course, many ways of examining decision-making. Taking the time to examine our thinking invites a more deliberate awareness of our patterns of decision-making, and of the assumptions, habits, and impulses that shape them.
If this way of approaching decisions is of interest, you are welcome to get in touch.