Humans are driven by emotions than anything else. We value our own beliefs and principles than the powerful potential of rational thinking. This is natural stupidity. Despite all these, we survive. But thriving requires being aware of cognitive biases which influence our views and decisions. These biases cannot be outsmarted instantly, but we be can be aware of it. Ultimately our emotions overrule. During a discussion with a team of students who came from DCSMAT, I explained how an understanding of our cognitive biases is as important or even more as knowing analytics or digital marketing. During the two and half hour discussion, I used this Wiki link to come up with stories from my own life and how I was fooled by these biases. Our brain is constantly tricking us with evolutionary instincts and residue of the information overload. This is the time we need to learn how to sit quietly in a place. You can call it meditation. I call it outsmarting the biases by using the power of tranquility. Our mind needs to settle down from the constant stimulation driven by technology. It needs to synthesize information using our natural intelligence than being influenced constantly by things which look like thousand times of what actually it is.
People who meditate are really powerful in that sense. In the book Tribe of Mentors by Tim Ferris, Yuval Noah Harari says that he takes a holiday from technology for one month every year and meditates one hour for every day.
Imagine a pond, and you are throwing stones at it constantly. It creates violent ripples. It takes some time for the pond to regain its soulful stillness. Our mind needs it. Everyday.
