Sidetracked

Why Our Decisions Get Derailed, and How We Can Stick to the Plan

The key message of this book is that small, simple, and seemingly irrelevant factors often have profound consequences on our behaviour and ability to stick to our decisions.

Research shows that the forces that systematically derail people's decisions are often predictable yet also often outside our awareness.

The forces that can throw us off track

Forces from within ourselves

• people's generally inaccurate and overly positive beliefs in their own abilities
• being influenced by emotions caused by factors that are unconnected to the decision in question
• too narrow a focus when evaluating information relating to the decision

Forces from our relationships with others

• failing to put ourselves in others' shoes and considering how they may feel
• being influenced by similarities we share with others which lead us to make assumptions that may be quite wrong (e.g. same education, different values)
• being affected by the behaviour of others (e.g. people are much more likely to behave dishonestly when they see peers or colleagues acting unethically)

Forces from the outside world

• giving weight to irrelevant information
• how information is framed (e.g. glass half-full or half-empty)
• the physical context in which the decision is being made (e.g. tests found that people were more likely to behave dishonestly in a dimly lit environment or when wearing fake products such as reproduction designer sunglasses, which made them feel inauthentic)

Practical tips for sticking to your decision

Gino emphasises the importance of having a clear plan that has been sensibly thought through. In order to then deliver without being sidetracked, her suggestions include:

• Raise your awareness - don't just rely on your own thinking but ask other people for their view, look for information that may be relevant but not obvious
• Take your emotional temperature - check whether emotions or circumstances are affecting your judgement
• Zoom out - think of the bigger picture, including how decisions affect others
• Question your bonds - notice when you are being unduly influenced by others just because you happen to be connected with them in some way. Think for yourself rather than unconsciously going along with what others are doing.

"We all make choices, but in the end our choices make us."