9 Biases That Trick Us Into Making Bad Decisions & How To Overcome Them

So far, the year 2020 has been earmarked with uncertainty. Despite the rocky start, Jay Shetty is convinced that transformation still awaits those who are committed to looking within, acknowledging their weaknesses, and embracing change. Today Jay gives an honest look at bias and the role it plays in life and decisions. You'll learn practical, actionable steps for breaking biases and moving forward with love and intentionality. No more making decisions you regret. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Jay Shetty?

  This episode is brought to you by AG1. Are you feeling September reset too? Shorter days, longer to-do lists, earlier alarms, all those routines you promised yourself you'd pick back up. It can feel like your whole life is recalibrating. And when everything around you is changing, it helps to have a few things you can rely on. AG1 Next Gen is one of those easy habits to keep. It's the clinically-backed, comprehensive daily health drink that supports your gut health, energy production, and foundational nutrition all in one scoop. AG1's ingredients are sourced from quality partners for absorption, potency, and nutrient density to deliver the foundational nutrition your body needs. And alongside a proper diet,

• 0:44Jay Shetty?

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• 1:29Jay Shetty?

  AG1 Next Gen is one of those easy habits to keep. It's the clinically-backed, comprehensive daily health drink that supports your gut health, energy production, and foundational nutrition all in one scoop. AG1's ingredients are sourced from quality partners for absorption, potency, and nutrient density to deliver the foundational nutrition your body needs. And alongside a proper diet, AG1 Next Gen meets 94% of nutrient requirements and it's clinically shown to enrich the gut microbiome. For a limited time, save 20% on your first subscription order of AG1 Next Gen or AG1 Pro at drinkag1.com/onpurpose. That's drinkag1.com/onpurpose.

• 2:16Jay Shetty?

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• 3:00Jay Shetty?

  Give your clothes a second life with Vinted. Download the Vinted app for free to start selling with no seller fees, so you keep every dollar you earn. Hey, everyone. Welcome back to On Purpose, the place where we listen, learn, and grow together every single week.

• 3:19Jay Shetty?

  Now, I just wanna take a breath for a moment, because 2020 has been a truly, truly transformative year. It's been an incredibly transformative year.

• 3:37Jay Shetty?

  And I say the word transformative because I feel that a lot of the language we use to define 2020 right now is obviously, and naturally so, validatedly so, negative. It's fear-based, it's based on things going wrong, plans falling apart. Of course, the loss of things, events, but most importantly, the loss of people. Right? The loss of humans, the loss of friends, of family members. And I wanna go in on this podcast and speak about each of these elements in more depth and with more specificity. But it truly has been a transformative year.

• 4:21Jay Shetty?

  And it's funny, when you heard the year 2020, you always knew it was gonna be a big year. But I think we all thought it was gonna be a big year in a really powerful and good and positive way. And then what we're seeing feels the opposite. And so we all go, well, when's this year going to end? When's it's going to be back to normal? When's things going to be back to the same? But see, here's the thing. In January 2020, Kobe's loss made us question time. Right? When Kobe Bryant passed away, I remembered it felt like the whole world just stopped. And the love, the honor, the focus on Kobe Bryant and his children and his wife and their

• 5:05Jay Shetty?

  family and the loss to the storytelling industry, the athlete industry, and even more so to his actual family and friends. And of course, we know Kobe Bryant was a guest on purpose as well. So someone that we deeply valued as part of our community, who gave me an opportunity to sit with him and speak about the power of storytelling and how we could transform the lives of young people through sports storytelling. But in January 2020, Kobe's loss made us question time. It felt untimely. It felt like it was too soon. It started making us question how we use our time, what retirement

• 5:50Jay Shetty?

  may mean to people, what honoring people while they're alive may mean to people, right? There was so much reflection, I believe, in the world around how to show love to those we love, how to not devalue time, how to not devalue connection, how to recognize that the future is not promised to any of us, which is such a hard thing to swallow. But in 2020, January 2020, Kobe's loss made us question time. It made us question time. And I promise you, stick with me, there's a reason why I'm bringing all this up. And

• 6:30Jay Shetty?

  right now, we may already start feeling discomfort with the memories and the thoughts and everything you can visualize right now. But I want you to sit with this for a moment because I promise you, there's a reason why I'm taking you here. And we have to address these things and not just shove them under the carpet. We have to give them the attention they deserve. Now, in March 2020, we had a few losses in February 2020, but in and across the world. But in March 2020, the loss of our normal lives to the pandemic.

• 7:02Jay Shetty?

  Made us question what truly matters to us. The loss of our loved ones, the loss of our family members. And I've been speaking about this, you know, I lost four people in my community back in London, around 25 of my friends had mild to severe symptoms of COVID-19. And the loss of our normal lives, or the loss of our closest ones to the pandemic, made us question what truly matters to us. All of a sudden, we were locked indoors. And we started to realize that being isolated from the ones we loved wasn't fun. We realized that we had to find new ways to entertain ourselves and to understand what was going on. We had to understand that our actions impacted those around us.

• 7:45Jay Shetty?

  We had to increase our compassion and empathy to our neighbors and those who lived with us. But it was that loss of our normal lives that made us question what is truly of value. Again, it was a loss with Kobe, it was a loss with the pandemic. It was a loss, it was a loss of someone we love. It was a loss of our normal life. It was a loss of our expected life that made us question, right? In May 2020, just over a week ago, George Floyd's loss. Right, let me, let me just take this for a moment, though. You know, George Floyd's loss, this horrific, heartbreaking, tragic moment.

• 8:30Jay Shetty?

  Right, it made us question justice and equality. And, and, and this is something I wanted to share with you all because it's really, really important. And I spent the whole, you know, last couple of weeks, reading, learning, talking to people to educate myself on everything that's going on to better understand and respond. And I really believe that change happens in two ways. One is from the bottom up, which is the people. And the other is from the top down, the leadership. And the bottom has been trying to be heard for so long. And there's probably no pain greater than that of being unheard,

• 9:14Jay Shetty?

  let alone being unheard for what feels like centuries and literally is centuries. Now,

• 9:21Jay Shetty?

  I recognize that this is hard for a lot of people to understand, but for me, it's important to address, and I believe it's an important reminder, is that we should not have to remind each other that black lives matter, but we still do. We should not have to remind each other that we are equal, but we still do. We should not have to remind each other that racism isn't okay, but we still do. We should not have to remind each other that this needs to stop, but we still do. We should not have to remind each other that being black is not a death sentence, but we still do.

• 10:04Jay Shetty?

  We should not have to remind each other that love is all we need, not hate, but we still do. We should not have to remind each other that police brutality is wrong, but we still do. And here's the thing, you know, let's remind ourselves, remind our children, remind each other, remind our families, remind our communities, and remind the world and stand for justice, because there is no explanation for what we have seen, none at all. And it's so important that we now make no excuses and take this opportunity to stand together. When things seem okay, we become complacent. In these moments, we respond, but what we do in between matters as well.

• 10:48Jay Shetty?

  And this is going to take a conscious effort from each and every one of us every day until we all realize that love, kindness, compassion, and empathy are the only antidotes. Love is louder than anything. Cries of compassion, the most deafening. Calls of kindness can make all the difference. Empathy is the energy we need in the world today. You don't have a soul, you are the soul and you have a body. And we know this, we breathe the same air and we bleed the same blood. So why do we treat others like they're not enough? I would like us at this 8:46 point roughly, as the on-purpose family, to take a minute of silence for George Floyd. Let's take this minute in support of all people protesting

• 11:32Jay Shetty?

  against the ongoing racial injustice. I believe there will come a day where we will all live in this world, united as brothers and sisters, leading with love and compassion instead of fear and aggression. So I want to thank you all for taking that minute with me. And I really, truly believe it's important that we do this because, you know, I saw someone post this, that if you're tired of hearing about racism, imagine how tired people are of actually experiencing it. And here's what I realized, that it is sad that it takes discomfort, pain, and distress to make us deeply question and discover what is truly meaningful, important, and urgent.

• 12:17Jay Shetty?

  Let me repeat that. It's sad that it takes discomfort, pain, and distress to make us deeply question and discover what is truly meaningful, important, and urgent. But we can see that loss makes us question. And questioning is powerful. Right? Loss makes us question. In January 2020, Kobe's loss made us question time. In March 2020, the loss of our normal lives made us question what truly matters to us. In May 2020, George Floyd's loss made us question equality and justice. Loss makes us question. And questioning is really important because questioning is about asking and then listening.

• 13:02Jay Shetty?

  Questioning is about asking and then learning. Questioning is about sharing and then observing.

• 13:11Jay Shetty?

  And sometimes we're scared of asking the right questions because we already know that the answer is uncomfortable. So we feel we can avoid asking it, right? How many times have you done that before? Where you actually don't say anything or don't ask any questions? Because you already know that the answer is going to be something uncomfortable? And it's time now to not be a spectator and a commentator, but get educated, to be involved, to be engaged, to really take a stand in whatever way you can, in whatever way you believe. So thank you so much for giving me the time to have that very, very important one minute of silence.

• 13:56Jay Shetty?

  And thank you so much for turning up for today's episode and allowing me to give that time to really addressing this important challenge. Now, what I want to talk to you about today is I've been really getting into psychology again and the mind and how we think. And today I want to talk to you about the biases that trick us into making bad decisions. Now, how many of you are even aware that there are certain biases that we develop in our life? Often these become unconscious biases. That means biases that we're not even aware of, biases that are unknown to us, that are working in the background of our mind and our brains and making us make decisions that may not be the healthiest

• 14:40Jay Shetty?

  and the best for us, our friends, or our families. So I want you to get your notebooks out. I want you to be ready to take down some points. And when I'm going through these biases, I want you to note down which ones you have. And for each bias, I'm going to give you a really strong, practical solution to break down that bias. Because see, here's the thing. We have spent our life learning a lot of ways to think. But now is the time that we need to unlearn a lot of those ways to achieve new results. If learning has got you to where you are, unlearning will get you to where you want to be. And I really, really believe in what I'm about to share with you with these biases because I've seen In them plague my own mind and I see them not even as biases.

• 15:25Jay Shetty?

  I see them as tricks of the mind. These are the hidden tricks of the mind that actually shape our decisions and often take us down paths that we don't want to go down. Now, some people say there are 12 biases. Some people say there are eight. Some people say there are four. So today I'm going to focus on the nine biases that trick our mind, that force us into making bad decisions that have been built up in our mind and teach you a practical lesson of how to break each bias. Now, some biases have their positives and I'll explain those as we go along and what benefits they give us. But overall, it's the awareness of the bias, knowing how to use it, when to use it, where to use it and how to use it

• 16:07Jay Shetty?

  is what makes a bias useful as opposed to useless. It's what makes a bias beneficial than actually leading to a greater disadvantage for us. So think about this carefully. The first bias that I want to speak to you about is something known as confirmation bias, also known as my side bias. And this simplified in a really basic way is we seek people who confirm our beliefs. Right? We seek and gravitate towards people who confirm our beliefs. And this creates echo chambers. We know people who know people who know us back

• 16:47Jay Shetty?

  and we create this closed loop where information continues to confirm what we believe. We follow people who confirm our biases on social media. We follow people and read articles that confirm our bias in the news. We focus on confirming the rhetoric, the opinion that we have because it makes us feel safe and secure. And so obviously there's positivity in that. There's positivity in confirmation bias because it reaffirms our good beliefs.

• 17:18Jay Shetty?

  But there's a negative here because it makes us less open to other people's beliefs. See, feeling confidence in your beliefs is important for living daily life. But if that confidence in your beliefs creates a closeness to other people's beliefs, that is a big challenge. That is where confirmation bias exists. So a confidence in your beliefs should come with an openness to other people's beliefs, as opposed to a closeness in other people's beliefs. It's immature if your confidence in your own beliefs and your confirmation bias

• 18:00Jay Shetty?

  leads to discounting other people's beliefs and opinions, even if they're valid. Right? So think about the moment. Confirmation bias isn't being around people that make us feel safe and secure and finding more things that help us grow our positive mindset. It's when we keep surrounding ourselves by people where we create a closed echo chamber, where we now no longer allow other valid opinions to help enhance and extend our beliefs. And this is what I've really realized when it comes to beliefs and biases, that everything is extendable, everything is enhanceable, everything is stretchable. Nothing is stagnant. Wisdom, knowledge, all of these incredible insights, they grow, they evolve,

• 18:45Jay Shetty?

  they don't just stay the same way they are. Now, it takes courage to do this. It takes courage to accept that actually, you know what? I'm just surrounded by a group of people who know the same people. We talk about the same stuff all the time. We have the same beliefs. No one ever questions each other. And remember, I've been talking about questioning earlier. The reason why I'm talking about biases today is that questioning is the root that helps us break our biases.

• 19:13Jay Shetty?

  And so I spoke about questioning earlier, and that's why I'm talking about biases today is because today, 2020 is making us question, and questioning is the first step in breaking our biases. But it takes courage to question. It's easier to live in that false security and false stability. It's easier to live around the same people who think the same way, who say the same stuff, who all agree. It's often when we use that phrase of don't be surrounded by yes men or yes women. When you get surrounded by that, we see people at the top who get surrounded by that. They get misled because everyone in their circle confirms what they say. And sometimes, you need someone to take the courage to say that's

• 19:57Jay Shetty?

  not right. To say, I don't agree with that. To say, I have another perspective. To say, I have another opinion. I have another insight that I'd like us to entertain, that I'd like us to think about, that I'd like us to reflect on, that I'd like us to appreciate. When someone has the courage to say that, that's when we start breaking confirmation bias. So this is why it's so important to have a broad group of friends in our circle. People from different backgrounds, people from different walks of life, people from different races, people from different countries. We build biases, confirmation bias, based on cities, schools we go to. All of these things recreate a bias, and we start breaking it down when

• 20:39Jay Shetty?

  we expand our circle. MIT did a very specific study on this, and their goal with the study was to find who in their organizations they were studying, corporate organizations, which employees were innovative and creative. And they looked at maps of networks of two employees. One map had the employees who knew people who knew people who knew them back, a closed network. And the other employees had people who had a broad network. They knew people who maybe didn't know each other, and they knew a lot of different people like that. And what they found was that the people who had broader More expansive networks were more creative and more innovative. Why? Because they entertain more people's perspectives.

• 21:23Jay Shetty?

  They could look from multiple angles. They could assess something from different perspectives, different ideologies. And that is what's needed right now is a growing mind that can have the ability to process things from different perspectives. That is what we are so seeking right now in the world is people who can be broad minded and open minded, who can look at things from multiple angles and not through the lens of the past, through history, through anything that blocks it. So the solution for confirmation bias is to ask yourself this question. How many people do you know that have truly unique experiences

• 22:06Jay Shetty?

  based on their backgrounds, walks of life, countries they come from in your intimate circle? Are you surrounded by people who all came from the same area, went to the same schools, went to the same colleges, make the same amount of money, go to the same places, go spend time in the same areas, want to go on the same vacations, wear the same clothes, live in the same style of homes? Because if you are, you probably have developed a very high threshold of confirmation bias that is blocking you from your potential and achieving things in the world. And it's like you may be thinking about, Jay, how does that actually, you know, how is this bias even bad? Like, that's life, right? And the truth is, yes, it is life and that's how life is often lived. But think about what you're missing when you're not exposed to a new set of people.

• 22:50Jay Shetty?

  I think about this all the time, that when I moved to New York, it changed my mindset from being grown up in London. When I moved to LA, it changed my mindset because I met new people. There was such a growth in uprooting from London, whereas around the same people who thought the same way, now being in LA, then first being in New York and being around people who had such different experiences from me. There was such value in that. The second bias that we experience is something known as post-purchase rationalization. Now, I was reading about this in a Gizmodo article where some of these biases were named, and I'm not coming up with these biases. These are biases laid out by psychology. Now, post-purchase rationalization is when we make ourselves feel better about our bad purchases.

• 23:34Jay Shetty?

  How many times, now I know you can relate to this. How many times have you bought something? Have you invested in something? And you keep trying to convince yourself after you've bought it that it was a good purchase? If it was a good pair of shoes, you keep wearing it trying to get validation. You keep showing it to your friends and go, this looks good, right? This is worth it, right? Oh yeah, I just spent this much on it. I mean, I got a really good deal on it. Like, I got, I got the best way of getting it, right? Like, I, I got this like free thing with it too. Like, you keep rationalizing why you spent so much money on this. Now, I remember a few years ago, I think this is about five years ago now, maybe six years ago now. I remember when the Apple Watch first came out, I bought the Apple Watch. It was about three hundred pounds, really an expensive watch, an expensive item.

• 24:15Jay Shetty?

  I'd never spent that much on a watch before, let alone a digital watch that I didn't even know I was gonna use. And it was almost like, I felt scared to admit that it was useless. Have you ever made a purchase like that? You're scared to admit that you made the wrong decision because you put so much into it, right? You put so much into it and now you don't wanna admit to yourself that you made a bad decision. This applies to watches, it applies to maybe a car purchase, it applies to clothes, mainly to smaller items that we buy quite regularly. And you try and convince yourself, or it happens in a very simple way, where you just spent the last week binge watching a show and you're now trying to justify that the show was actually really good even though you know it's really bad. It's kind of like when you spent too much to go to the theatre

• 25:00Jay Shetty?

  or too much on a holiday and now you lie about that place being beautiful. I've gone to so many vacations and holidays where people have told me this, these places are incredible. And I go there and I come back and I'm just like, why did you think that was incredible? But really, we feel forced because of post-purchase rationalization. So we convince ourselves that it's a good decision to make ourselves feel better. Now, the challenge with this is we keep making bad decisions, right? When you've convinced yourself that every decision that was bad was actually good, when you just lie to yourself in that way, you continue that cycle of creating more negative situations for yourself because you haven't been truthful and honest with yourself.

• 25:41Jay Shetty?

  And even though you know in your gut that that wasn't the right decision, because you've convinced yourself it was, you keep repeating that pattern and you never break through that cycle. So the solution for this one is be okay with making bad decisions and failing. Be okay with making bad decisions. Be okay with admitting that you were wrong. I realized that I was wrong for purchasing the Apple Watch and I could give it back within the time. I had the receipt and I'd only worn it once and I realized that it wasn't doing what I wanted it to do and I could give it back, so I even saved my money, I gave it back. But it's so important that we're honest with ourselves

• 26:23Jay Shetty?

  so that when we make a purchase that we really value, that it's real for us and it's real for the people around us.

• 26:35Jay Shetty?

  This episode is brought to you by Whole Foods Market. If you're talking about quality food, you can't forget Whole Foods Market, who've been holding themselves to the highest standards since they opened in 1980. That means you'll see thousands of organic products across their stores, from the produce department to the aisles. It also means you'll never see certain ingredients. They've banned artificial sweeteners and colors, high fructose corn syrup and more, so you can shop with peace of mind. Shop Whole Foods Market in-store or online. This episode is brought to you by Wayfair. Home should be a place that feels like a sanctuary, a space that truly reflects who you are. But it can be challenging to balance style, budget and endless options.

• 27:20Jay Shetty?

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• 28:03Jay Shetty?

  Head to wayfair.com to shop all things home. That's W A Y F A I R dot com. Wayfair, every style, every home. This episode is brought to you by State Farm. We talk a lot about intentional decision making, and that extends to the practical stuff, too, like making sure your coverage actually works for your life. State Farm is there to meet you where you are, and they know how sweet it is to feel good about your decisions. Talk to a State Farm agent today to learn how you can choose to bundle and save with a personal price plan. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. Prices are based on rating plans that vary by state. Coverage options are selected by the customer. Availability, amount of discounts and savings, and eligibility vary by state.

• 28:48Jay Shetty?

  So the third bias is called the probability paradox. This one's really, really interesting because what ends up happening is that we fear the wrong things and not understanding what is more likely to hurt us and actually impact us. So we almost get anxious and stressed about the wrong thing. Now, you've probably experienced this before, and I was looking at a New York Times blog, and it was talking about how statistically, we have a 1 in 84 chance of dying in a car accident as compared to a 1 in 5,000 chance of dying in an airplane crash, right? And some sources that this blog talks about indicates that the odds are as high as 1 in 20,000. But more people get scared getting into a plane than we do getting scared getting into a car.

• 29:32Jay Shetty?

  And it's because of the stories that we hear. It's because of the horrific pictures that are painted. So it's fascinating how so many of us are fearful of things that are actually less statistically proven to make a negative impact on us. Now, if you think about this bias, think about it in your own life as well. How much do you stress about losing your job? How much do you stress about something your partner says? How much do you stress about something that may not be true? And we actually waste so much energy in feeling stress and pressure and all of these negative emotions, the anxiety and nervousness that comes with that. And so the solution for this bias.

• 30:15Jay Shetty?

  Is to be careful and cautious and alert, not anxious. So the way you do that, what does it mean to do that? It means that you are aware. It means that you get the right information. It means that you do the research. It means that you have the knowledge. So rather than letting your emotions and your nervousness, anxiety just run crazy, you're actually settling yourself and saying, okay, let me just get back to the basics and let me really, really try and just be careful and cautious. It's how we sometimes, we get lost in painting a picture in our minds of how something can turn out so bad, rather than focus on reality. I often talk about this as we focus on what if instead of what is.

• 30:57Jay Shetty?

  And so when you're stuck in the probability paradox, you want to bring your mind back to what is, as opposed to allowing it to just get lost in what if. So this is a really, really important bias to think about. Now, the fourth bias is known as selection bias. Simply put, we see more of what we seek. The best way to explain this, and it's a common example that's used, is when you get a new phone, you get a new pair of shoes, you get a new car, guess what? You see that everywhere. Have you ever had that? It was like when I was thinking about buying a particular car, you now see that car everywhere. When you're thinking, even a thought, that's what's so powerful about it. It's not even buying a pair of shoes. It's not even buying a particular car or buying a particular phone.

• 31:40Jay Shetty?

  It's like when that thought is planted in your mind, you now spot it everywhere. So this is where I want to go a step further in the way selection bias is explained. Selection bias is always explained around the purchase of a car and you see it everywhere. But actually, I believe that this includes thoughts and people too. When you look for good people, you find more good people. When you look for good thoughts, you find more good thoughts. When you try to notice the greatness in people, you will notice more greatness. When you look for the potential in yourself, you will find more potential. We see more of what we seek, right? We see more of what we seek consistently. And so ask yourself, what are you seeking? Ask yourself, what is that thought that you're looking for?

• 32:23Jay Shetty?

  Ask yourself, what is the plan you're making in your mind? Because just as if you have the thought of I want to buy a Tesla, you will see more Teslas. If you have the thought, I want to be around happy, growing, authentic people, you will start to notice happy, growing, authentic people. And similarly, this can go the other way. If we have the bias of selection bias, when we select a negative thought, it continues to repeat. So the solution here is, select your thoughts carefully. What seeds are you planting in your mind every day? What thoughts are you planting in your mind every day that are building the correct bias that you're actually looking for?

• 33:08Jay Shetty?

  Now, the fifth bias is known as the status quo bias, or almost like certainty, consistency, normality bias. And that's when you try keep things the same. And the problem with this one, as we all know, is that trying to keep things the same doesn't work. And we've all realized that this year. So much more uncertainty because things are always changing. So if you have this bias, status quo bias, the biggest challenge with this bias is that your whole life always feels like it's crumbling. Like this bias is like the root cause of why you feel like your life is not moving in the right direction. Because you're like, but I want everything to stay the same.

• 33:50Jay Shetty?

  And that one simple bias is like a virus in your life that erodes and creates so much dysfunction, so much dysfunction. Because the truth is that everything's always changing. There is so much inconsistency and uncertainty. And so really, the only way of overcoming this bias is to feel more comfortable with change. And the way to do that is actually simpler than you believe. This is the solution. Make small changes daily to get comfortable with change. You might take a new route to work. And guess what? You're late that day. But guess what? You try a new route to work the other day,

• 34:35Jay Shetty?

  and you see the most beautiful scenery. You discover a quicker route. That's it. Okay, Monday night is usually taco night. I'm gonna switch that to Italian night, right? We're gonna cook something different. I know that when I walk into my house, I see a particular painting, or maybe I see a blank wall, I'm gonna put a painting there. I'm gonna put a piece of art there. How can you make spontaneity come into your routine? A common example that's given in the world of psychology in this is, if you're right-handed, brush your teeth with your left hand. Or if you're left-handed, brush your teeth with your right hand. When you break that status quo through these small things, you start becoming more open to change and start realizing the value of change. And actually, the only thing normal is change. You know? That's just the way it is.

• 35:21Jay Shetty?

  So I really want you to understand this point, that this status quo bias is actually what keeps us trapped. And what frees us is adding these small changes. Sometimes we think like, life's gonna change in a massive way. It doesn't. It just needs to change in a small way. Cook something new for dinner. Put some new music on, right? Try a new outfit, like whatever it is that breaks out of that monotony, that creates spontaneity in monotony. This is bias number six now, is the negativity bias. And this is simple. There's a very famous statement made in the world of news. If it bleeds, it reads. We are programmed, as a lot of psychologists and scientists have told us, to spot danger and spot negativity and amplify it.

• 36:04Jay Shetty?

  It comes, what we're told, from our days of being in the bushes in the forest. And we would hear a rustle through the leaves, and we would think it's a snake or a tiger. And we'd have to protect ourselves. So our ability, the amygdala, is triggered, and we run to protect ourselves. So similarly, negativity is louder in our minds. And that is a bias we have to be so aware of, because when we watch the news, it's easier to spot negativity. If you see a negative headline, you will sit there and watch that show for an hour. But if you see a positive headline, you will just walk away from it. And that's why it is so important, so important. The way to really overcome this is to recognize that repeated negativity doesn't actually help us grow.

• 36:50Jay Shetty?

  And choosing growth-based content, choosing solution-based content to read is going to help you move out of negativity quicker than anything. Being in negativity and reading more negativity makes you feel negative. Now, it doesn't mean you need to read something positive. It means you need to read something action-based. And I think we make this mistake. We think that the opposite of negativity is positivity. The opposite of negativity is actually action. It's doing something. It's getting active. It's moving. It's momentum. Because negativity is stagnant. Negativity is draining. Negativity takes your energy away. And so the only way to get your energy back is to push forward. And so being aware of what are you consuming on a daily basis?

• 37:35Jay Shetty?

  What are you reading? What are you watching? What are you learning? Choose things that make you want to make changes in your life. Right? Choose things in your life that want to make you make positive changes in your life. That's the work that's going to push you forward. Now, the seventh bias. By the way, I hope you're enjoying this podcast because this is so useful. When you really get reflective, you really get deep. I'm giving you a really strong overview today of the multiple types of biases that exist. But I really, really hope that they're resonating with you. The seventh bias is known as the projection bias. We think that people think like us. How many times have you thought that someone is as loyal as you are? And they let you down?

• 38:21Jay Shetty?

  How many times have you thought someone is as trustworthy as you are? And they've let you down? How many times have you believed? That someone is as helpful, or as into you, or as committed to a friendship as you are, and then they've let you down. Now, whose fault is that? Often, we think it's because there's no good people. Often, we think it's because people let us down. And those things are true, of course they are. But one of the deepest truths is that we have projection bias, that we reflect our own loyalty standards, our own trust standards, our own friendship standards on to other people. We reflect our own beliefs,

• 39:06Jay Shetty?

  projecting them on to other people. We think people think like us. And that really messes up. But I don't need to tell you how much that messes us up. It messes up our relationships, our friendships, our romantic connections. So the only solution to this is clarify perspectives and expectations early. In a business, clarify perspectives and expectations early. Don't just think, "We went to the same school. We have the same parents." You know, same kind of parenting. We both get along. Everything's gonna be great. They like me, you know, they get me, they understand me. We think that because we think people think like us. It's so valid and important to clarify perspectives and expectations early. And I want you to do that in all your relationships.

• 39:51Jay Shetty?

  Not in an aggressive way, not in an offensive way, not in a overly confrontational way, but in a way that really builds collaboration, in a way that really encourages connection. Right? In a way that really helps you understand each other.

• 40:13Speaker 01

  Now, more than ever, we need someone on our side. But Rob Whitman? Whitman's votes drove up costs, cut Medicaid, and risked 350,000 Virginians' health care to pay for tax breaks for himself and his donors. He's not on our side. Shannon Taylor will fight corruption, cut taxes, and bring down costs. This November, vote for Shannon Taylor. She's for us. Paid for by HMP, the HouseMajorityPac.com. Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.

• 40:43Jay Shetty?

  Bias number eight is short term gratification bias. Now, I don't know if you saw this video recently that I posted. It was fascinating. It was Kylie Jenner's child Stormy and she's asked to wait. And if she waits, she'll get two sweets. And or as many as she likes, I think. And if she doesn't wait, then she can eat right now or whatever it is. And she basically ends up waiting and you see her just whispering patience to herself. It's fascinating. And it's obviously based on something known as the marshmallow test many, many years ago, where children were taught that they could either eat one marshmallow now or wait 20 minutes and have two. And very few lasted, but when they watched those children across their journey, they

• 41:24Jay Shetty?

  saw that the people that had patience were more successful, ability to put off gratification. And so the solution to this is think long term. It doesn't mean you have to wait for a while to celebrate. It means that you think long term when you're making a decision. You don't think, okay, what's going to make me happy right now? What's going to be great right now? It's like, what is actually going to put me in the best position? Because what they found is that people will choose unhealthy food when they think of now. But when they think of the future, they'll choose healthy food. And so that's why we make better decisions when we think, how do I want to feel tomorrow morning as opposed to how do I want to feel tonight? It's why one night stands. It's why binge eating. It's why binge watching. It's why staying awake all night, doing nothing is so attractive in the now, but in

• 42:09Jay Shetty?

  the future, getting drunk in the aftermath, it doesn't feel as powerful. And so I always ask myself that question, not how do I want to feel now? How do I want to feel tomorrow morning? Because that's future enough. If you push too much into the future of how do I want to feel in a week? It's like too far away. But I know what it feels like to wake up night after I've eaten stuff I don't want to eat or I've wasted time watching something that I didn't want to watch. I've woken up feeling tired, fatigued, drained, energy less. And I don't want to feel like that. I can connect with that. So when I say think long term, I don't mean think what do I want in five, 10 years over the although that is useful. It's really important to think long term based on now versus 12 hours, 24 hours time. And the ninth and final bias that I want to discuss with you today is known as

• 42:52Jay Shetty?

  the sunk cost bias, one of my favorite ones to talk about. And similar to some of the gambler's fallacy that I talked about before, but sunk cost biases, where you've made an investment into something. We often feel this with our education. You've studied for something for three, maybe six years, maybe nine years, and now you feel scared to switch careers because you're like, I've invested so much time in it, even though you're not passionate about it. You're not excited about it. You don't believe in it. You don't want to do it, but you feel that you've invested time in it, so you have to stick with it. People do this with investments. People do this in people and relationships. Oh, I've been with him for five years. I've been with him for 10 years. I've been with her for nine years now. I have to marry her. She has to be the one, even though we argue every day and we don't like each other. It's called sunk cost bias.

• 43:37Jay Shetty?

  You have to spot this in yourself. And the only way you improve sunk cost bias is you look at the facts. You remove emotion from the equation. It's the emotion that creates sunk cost bias. Oh, but we've invested so many time. We've been on so many holidays. We've put so much money into this. I put so much time into this. My parents put so much time into this. It's the emotion that stops you from making a rational decision. So remove emotion from the equation and see your life change and transform. Thank you so much for listening to this episode. I hope that this has helped you become more aware of the biases that trick your mind and stop you from making great decisions. Thank you so much for listening.

• 44:21Jay Shetty?

  Make sure you share your best insight on Instagram and Twitter and tag me at Jay Shetty. I can't wait to read what you're learning, what you're growing from. Share this episode with friends right now as well. And thank you so much for being a part of the On Purpose Community. Thank you.

• 44:46Speaker 01

  Now, more than ever, we need someone on our side. But Rob Whitman? Whitman's votes drove up costs, cut Medicaid, and risked 350,000 Virginians' health care to pay for tax breaks for himself and his donors. He's not on our side. Shannon Taylor will fight corruption, cut taxes, and bring down costs. This November, vote for Shannon Taylor. She's for us. Paid for by HMP, the House Majority PAC dot com. Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.