How to think clearly

The human mind is unfortunately irrational. If you want to deal with that, how do you do so?

Emotions

Everyone has experienced losing their temper, or being demotivated. In these states, you're unable to have clear thinking. The underlying thing to watch out for is fear and anger, which in my opinion comes from things that threaten survival in our primal brain.

Cognitive biases

There are patterns to how we're irrational. These are called cognitive biases.

There's an alarmingly long list on wikipedia (opens in a new tab).

One of the best resources on the topic is a talk given by Charlie Munger called The Psychology of Human Misjudgment (opens in a new tab).

Munger's list of 25 biases

Reward and Punishment Tendency
Simple, Pain-Avoiding Psychological Denial
Disliking/Hating Tendency
Doubt Avoidance Tendency
Influence-from-Mere Association Tendency
Reciprocation Tendency
Social-Proof Tendency
Inconsistency Avoidance Tendency
Contrast-Misreaction Tendency
Authority-Misinfluence Tendency
Deprival Superreaction Tendency
Envy/Jealousy Tendency
Drug-Misinfluence Tendency
Mis-gambling Compulsion
Liking/Loving Tendency and Disliking/Hating Tendency
Availability-Misweighing Tendency
Stress-Influence Tendency
Reason-Respecting Tendency
Use-It-or-Lose-It Tendency
Stress-Influence Tendency
Senescence-Misinfluence Tendency
Twaddle Tendency
Lollapalooza Tendency — Confluences of Psychological Tendencies Acting in Favor of a Particular Outcome
Benefits of this Psychological Thought System
Special Knowledge Problems Lie Buried in the Thought System

Another is Robert Cialdini's famous book "Influence", which lists 6 critical and used effects within the field of sales.

Cialdini's 6

Reciprocity
Scarcity
Authority
Commitment and consistency
Liking
Consensus (social proof)

Looking out for flawed assumptions

Every statement you make is based on other statements, or a fundamental assumption.

When reasoning, you want to build up to your final statement.

However when communicating, you want to present your final statement, and build your case with your statements.

Lying with statistics

For example, I've seen a lot of news recently claiming that underage drinking is rising in Norway. These claims don't mention that they've only returned to pre covid19 levels, which is a really significant factor.

The book "Lying with Statistics" goes further into exploring how you can effectively lie with data.

Health

I do believe a healthy body and activity does positively affect clarity of mind as well.

The sience does seem to support this. Common sense really.

Mental modus

One thing I've found really actionable is the "Stare and Focus Tecnique" you simply stare at a fixed point in the room for 30 to 60 seconds. This really simple trick helps you get your brain into the state of focus.

I think it's as simple as, when you're focusing on one point it means your brain needs to focus, and so it does.

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