These 5 Biases May Be Blocking Your Success
Sometimes, we are often our worst enemies when it comes to personal and professional development. We may believe we aren’t as great as our “competitors” or think there are too many hurdles to overcome. These negative presumptions, known as cognitive biases, stump our journey to success in our lives. While it’s impossible to not have bias, it’s helpful to understand what your most dominant ones might be, as trying to see the world through another lens can sometimes give us the push we need.
Here are the five of some of the most common cognitive biases so that you can better understand which ones you may face.
Overconfidence Bias
Some people exaggerate their talents and abilities to impress themselves and others. Overconfidence can lead to increased risk-taking and the presumption that one is ebetter than others.
One negative effect of overconfidence bias is, counterintuitively, that you might cease to see the ways that you can improve which can inadvertently leave you with diminished skills in the end. It can also prompt us to neglect input from others.
Status Quo Bias
This bias occurs when people aren’t open to change and enjoy consistency, even when an adjustment could arguably benefit their health, job, finances, or personal relationships. For example, someone could spend thousands of dollars to repair a 20-year-old car’s brakes, engine, tires, and other parts when they could have invested that money into another vehicle that wouldn’t have required as much maintenance. Sometimes we miss alternative ways of solving problems by focusing too much on maintaining the status quo.
Affect Heuristic Bias
The affect heuristic bias occurs when we over-rely on our emotions to make decisions. An example of this bias is if someone gets into an argument with their co-worker over a project, they may intentionally leave them out of essential emails regarding the assignment because they are still upset about the incident. These impulsive actions lead to repercussions in the future that might not actually help the situation.
Availability Bias
Availability bias, or availability heuristic, is a mental shortcut due to the natural human tendency to believe the most readily available data that they’ve come across. This bias leads to quick decision-making based on how readily available experiences or information come to mind. For example, someone may become fearful of rollercoasters after hearing one news story about it, despite the fact that rollercoasters rarely malfunction.
Have you ever wanted to pursue a career but felt stumped by things you’ve heard in your family or friend circle like, “that’s too hard” or “not many people are successful at that” or “you won’t make enough money doing that”. Sometimes we simply don’t know or haven’t heard the success stories about fields we’re passionate about which can lead to false conclusions and diminished confidence. Doing some research on your desired industry or figures that are doing what we see ourselves doing can alleviate this.