How do you see the world?
Our brains use many shortcuts, know an heuristics, to make it easier to process the world we live in quickly. Some of these shortcuts help us make quicker judgments or decisions. This can be really helpful sometimes, but if we are not consciously aware of the short cuts or biases we are using this can have a really detrimental impact on our understanding of a situation.
One heuristic that can impact how likely we are to try something new or push ourselves beyond our comfort zone if that we generally decide how likely something is based on whether or not we can recall it happening.
Taking speeding when driving as an example. If you have driven over the speed limit lots of times and never got caught you are more likely to speed again in future. However if you have been caught speeding and been fined or given points on your licence you are less likely to speed.
The same is true of interpersonal behaviours. If we have acted in a certain way many times before and gotten away with it, or not suffered negative consequences then you are more likely to behave that way again.
The person who thinks everything is going to be a disaster is not surprised when something goes wrong, in fact it validates their belief that this is how things work out. Equally the person who sees the bright side, normally finds one.
The question is: how do you see the world?
