7 Cognitive Biases That Are Killing Your Goals and Productivity

Our minds are very imperfect.

This is one of the most fundamental lessons to learn in psychology because it teaches you to be more humble and careful of the many ways our minds make mistakes, miscalculate, and make poor decisions.

Too often we become over-confident in how our minds think. We believe we see reality perfectly, and there’s no way our minds can ever be wrong or misjudge a person or situation. But this isn’t the case, and we need to accept these imperfections if we want to make an honest attempt to improve ourselves.

When discovering more about how your mind works (and how to use this knowledge to improve yourself), it’s important to learn about “cognitive biases” and become more aware of how they play themselves out in our daily lives.

Biases are common flaws in our thinking that people tend to fall victim to. They don’t always happen, but they are thought patterns that we are susceptible to and therefore we should pay attention to them and be aware of their existence.

Here are 7 cognitive biases related to work, productivity, and goals. Each of them illustrates a “pattern of thought” that hurts our motivation and productivity – and ultimately stops us from achieving our values and goals in life.

7 Cognitive Biases That Are Killing Your Goals and Productivity

• Planning fallacy – One of the most common mistakes we make is that we tend to underestimate how long it’ll take to complete a task or project. This is especially true for bigger projects where it is very difficult to guess the potential obstacles that we will run into. For example, we may think to ourselves, “Oh I only need a couple hours to write this essay,” but then we wait until the last minute and realize it’s going to take us much longer than we thought.
  
  Solution: It’s always better to start a project sooner rather than later. Be aware that any given task is likely to take longer than you expect, so develop a healthy sense of urgency to start things as soon as possible and get the ball rolling. Often we need to jump into a project before we realize just how much is on our plate.




• Sunk cost fallacy – Another common mistake we make is the “sunk cost fallacy.” This is when we continue to invest energy and resources into something that has already proven to be a poor investment, with the hope that things will eventually turn around. For example, say your investing in a business stock that is going down, but you don’t want to admit that it was a bad investment so you continue to pour more money into it. Or you’re stuck in a bad relationship, but you feel you’ve already invested so much time into it so you refuse to admit it was a mistake and you stay in the relationship.
  
  Solution: It’s very hard to admit to ourselves that we’ve made a poor investment, whether it’s our energy, time, or money. However, it’s often better to “cut your losses” and redirect your resources into something new rather than stay committed to the decision and keep accruing more losses. Keep in mind that it’s better to accept past losses and move on rather than continue to make future losses. Don’t forget all the other opportunities that are available to you (whether it’s your career, relationships, or personal goals).




• Illusory superiority – Another big obstacle that stands in the way of our learning and productivity is known as “illusory superiority” (or the Dunning-Kruger effect). The basic idea is that we tend to think we are better than most people, and we tend to overestimate our intelligence and skill level. Unfortunately, by thinking too highly of ourselves, we become less likely to listen to others and learn from them. We wrongly think to ourselves, “I’m smarter and better than this person, so what could I possibly gain from listening to them?”
  
  Solution: There’s a great power in knowing what you don’t know because it gives you a clear idea of when you should just shut up and listen to others. But to accept what you don’t know, you have to step down off your high horse and realize that you’re not the best at everything. Everyone has different strengths and weaknesses, including yourself, and by being humble and accepting your weaknesses, you put yourself in a greater position to keep growing and evolving.




• Survivorship bias – One fatal error we make when trying to learn how to be successful is the “survivorship bias.” This is our tendency to only focus on people who have succeeded in a certain situation, and not the people who have failed in that same situation. For example, we read success stories about billionaires who have dropped out of college (like Steve Jobs or Bill Gates), but we ignore all of the people who dropped out of college and didn’t do as well in life. The truth is there are a lot of factors that can contribute to success and it can often be very hard to distinguish between what is effective vs. what is just blind luck.
  
  Solution: While it can be helpful to learn about people’s success stories, we should always take them with a grain of salt and not get trapped into thinking, “It worked for them, so it must work for me too!” Don’t forget all of the people who found themselves in a similar situation and still failed, as those cases can often fly under the radar and go unnoticed. Ultimately, learning about these “failure stories” (and not just being blinded by “success stories”) will give you a more balanced perspective and help you to manage your expectations before making rash and risky decisions.




• Hindsight bias – Another popular bias that we fall victim to is the “hindsight bias.” This is when we look back on a past event and believe that we knew all along that it would turn out the way it did. Of course, it’s always easy to look back and think “Oh, I knew that would happen!” even though at the time we didn’t have the slightest clue how things would work out. The problem with this bias is that it stops us from honestly looking back and thinking critically about what we could’ve done differently to get a different result.
  
  Solution: We have to be honest when we’ve misjudged and miscalculated a situation. Only when we admit, “Oh wow, this didn’t work out the way I expected it to!” can we genuinely look back at a situation and try to see what went wrong and how we can correct our ways in the future. Similar to “illusory superiority,” if we always think we are right then we’re not going to take the time to reflect on our past in a healthy and constructive way. You have to admit you were wrong before you can change your ways, otherwise you’ll just keep thinking you know everything and that’s going to limit your ability to grow.




• Social comparison – One phenomenon in psychology that has shown to come at a great cost to our happiness and success is “social comparison theory.” The basic idea is that we often can’t help but measure our own self-worth compared to other people around us. You have a nice car, but someone else has a nicer car? That sucks. Someone from high school just got married, and you’re still searching for the right one? That can hurt even more. With every step we take in life, we feel the need to look around and see where everyone else is too.
  
  Solution: The most important thing to remember to avoiding constantly comparing yourself to others is to understand that everyone’s life has its own path. You’re not necessarily “ahead” or “behind” anyone because your story is going to be unique to you. Another important thing to remember is that one person’s vision of happiness and success may be wildly different than another person’s vision of happiness and success. Some people may enjoy an ambitious career with a lot of material success, while others prefer a modest and humble lifestyle. Everyone’s story is going to unfold in its own way, and everyone is going to have different goals and values, so embrace how your story progresses and don’t worry too much about anyone else’s.




• Zero-sum bias – One of the worst biases when it comes to relationships is to see your social interactions as a zero sum game, where one player “wins” and another player “loses.” This attitude can hurt all types of relationships in your life (family, friends, work, and love), because it stops you from being able to find solutions to problems where all sides benefit and walk away happy, which is the heart of building cooperation, compromise, and reciprocity. Compare the “cutthroat businessman” who is constantly trying to hoodwink everyone for a quick dollar with the “cooperative entrepreneur” who is always trying to find solutions and build strong, mutual relationships within the community.
  
  Solution: The truth is that the best relationships are the ones where everyone benefits and gains something from the relationship. But to achieve this, we have to stop thinking of our social interactions as a “zero sum game.” If we take the time and are willing to search for better solutions, we can almost always find some type of “win win” outcome where everyone walks away happy. But you have to be open to those possibilities, even if they aren’t always obvious or easy to find. It requires a shift in your perspective and how you treat people before you can begin finding those “win wins.”

All 7 of these cognitive biases are important to know about, especially in the context of our work, productivity, and goals. Each bias is one way our minds can act irrationally, make poor decisions, and hurt our ability to grow and improve ourselves.

Which one of these biases do you feel like you engage in the most? What should your new attitude and approach be when you find yourself in these situations?

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