A Few Suggestions to Think Better...and a Batter Bonus

I'll work on the presumption that we achieve better results with better process.

Our primary "processor" is our brain, fast, vast storage capacity, and portable. The problem is our potential for error, partly by "heuristic" back-of-the-envelope calculations and overdependence on reflexive (fast) rather than reflective (slow, deep) thinking. 

When a speeding car races at us, we use reflexive thinking. To plan sport-specific training and education, we outperform using reflective thinking. That includes some understanding of mental models, cognitive biases, and habits. 

I'm not telling you what to believe but rather suggest we all do better asking, "is that true" and "what is the quality of that information?"

1. Reading. Invest time in reading and learning how to learn. You might think, "I was too busy in school to think about learning." Truth? 

2. Thinking time. Whether you read Adam Grant's "Think Again" and have a rethinking scorecard or not, taking even a few minutes a day to ask "what did I learn today and how can I apply it" might pay dividends. 

3. Mental models are thinking tools. Here are a few quick ones:

• Circle of competence. Our circle is a smaller circle within 'what there is to know'. I am not knowledgable enough about volleyball to coach. 
• Inversion. What would it mean if the opposite of what I'm proposing to do is true? It's not the quick, "I wonder, what if, let's try" that works on Sesame Street. 
• Sample size. "I went to Rochester, NY in February 1977 and it was snowing and ten below zero." Rochester is nasty.  

4. Cognitive biases often distort our thinking. 

• Confirmation bias. We read literature or opinions that agree with our existing beliefs. "The world is flat." If we look at a photograph of windmills at sea (below), we see that cannot be true. 
• Endowment bias. Because we 'own it', it's better. "My dog's better than your dog." My kid's smarter, better, handsomer than yours. 
• Loss aversion. We dislike and feel pain from loss than we do from gain, so that alters our risk-taking and sporting behavior. 

5. Blind acceptance. We're 'wired' to believe what we see and hear. That's why magic holds fascination and why disinformation or plain 'repeated lying' changes what we believe. Vaccines are dangerous and no good. Do you remember that time when your family had polio? No, because vaccines for polio, developed in the 1950s, helped nearly eradicate it. 

Challenge ourselves to think better and apply to your volleyball experience. 

Lagniappe. MasterClass cinnamon sugar pancakes

Or breakfast for dinner with a cheeseburger pancake with pickles inside...