We know what we are supposed to do, but we don’t always do it. We have a tendency to make quick decisions and our emotions cause us to change course when our minds tell us not to do it. Instead of using newly learned information and methods, we fall back on old habits and assumptions. If we are to be successful, it is important we recognize what is going on, so we can overcome the ghosts that plague us.
Malcolm Gladwell say the tendency is in our DNA which we inherited from our ancient ancestors. He makes the point our ancient ancestors’ survived life and death situations by making very quick decisions. When a bear, lion or some other dangerous beast crossed their paths the choice was either to fight the beast or run to safety. It was our ancestors who ran and survived. The fighters perished. Today we still have the DNA causing us to make quick decisions. The problem as society gets more complex is there are so many factors to choose from we often chose the wrong factor to base our decision on. We need to learn the relevant information we should be using in our decision making. This requires re-learning what we have learned in the past and then practicing using the new techniques so they become natural to us.
Researchers says our brains are not fully developed until our mid or late twenties. Erica Hayasaki, a reporter for Newsweek, writes that the human brain is very plastic and absorbs a tremendous amount of knowledge in the first few years after child birth.