Annoying features of the mind
- our mind’s strongest intuitions are often totally wrong. E.g. visual illusions
- our mind judges relative to reference points
- our minds are built to get used to stuff - perceptual adaptation, hedonic adaptation
- we don’t realize our minds are built to get used to stuff
Why our predictions are wrong
- Focalism - The tendency to think about one thing but forget about the other things that happen
- Immune Neglect - unawareness of the tendency to adapt to and cope to negative events
For overcoming hedonic adaptation: Invest in experience not in stuff
Strategies to thwart adaptation
- Savoring
- Negative Visualization
- Make this day your last
- gratitude
It is very important to pick your reference points
Resetting reference points
- Concretely reexperience - go back to a place with different reference points and visualize/reexperience them
- concretely observe
- avoid social comparison
- interrupt your consumption
- increase your variety
Tools
- Measure your happiness - https://yalesurvey.ca1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_dmWAB2LoFzOk25n?user_id=2013ad4d765b3b403b5f15622d4d0c7d14907d5b - PERMA Profiler