When we respond without reasoning, we’re more likely to make mistakes that seem obvious in hindsight. In fact, when we respond emotionally, we often don’t even realize that we’re in a position that calls for thinking at all. When you are possessed by the moment, all the reasoning tools in the world won’t help you.
While there are many such instincts, four stand out to me as the most prominent, the most distinctive, and the most dangerous.
These behaviors represent something akin to our brain’s default or factory settings. They’re behavioral programs written into our DNA by natural selection that our brains will automatically execute when triggered unless we stop and take the time to think. They have many names, but for the purposes of this book, let’s call them the emotion default, the ego default, the social default, and the inertia default.
Here’s how each essentially functions:
1. The emotion default: we tend to respond to feelings rather than reasons and facts.
2. The ego default: we tend to react to anything that threatens our sense of self-worth or our position in a group hierarchy.
3. The social default: we tend to conform to the norms of our larger social group.
4. The inertia default: we’re habit forming and comfort seeking.
We tend to resist change, and to prefer ideas, processes, and environments that are familiar.
Eğer Tom, bu kitabın yazarı gibi, büyük ve bilge bir filozof olsaydı, artık çalışmanın kişinin yapmaya mecbur olduğu şeyleri içerdiğini, eğlencenin de kişinin yapmaya mecbur olmadığı şeyleri kapsadığını idrak ederdi.