Afterpage · week card
Thinking, Fast and Slow
Daniel Kahneman
Key ideas
- System 1 and System 2.
- What you see is all there is.
- Anchors pull estimates.
- Losses loom larger than gains.
- Take the outside view.
The week
| Day 1 | Read the summary. Five key ideas and where the book overreaches. |
| Day 2 | Catch three fast answers. Today, write down three moments when you answered or judged something instantly, and note whether slow thinking would have changed it. Bad day: Write down one snap judgment you made today and one fact that might change it. |
| Day 3 | List what's missing. Pick one decision you're facing and write down what you don't know about it before you decide. Bad day: Write one decision and two questions you can't yet answer about it. |
| Day 4 | Make your own anchor first. Before your next estimate, price check, or negotiation, write down your own number before you see anyone else's. Bad day: Write your estimate for one number you'll face this week before you look it up. |
| Day 5 | Reframe one loss. Find one choice where fear of losing something is holding you back, and rewrite it in terms of gains and the cost of doing nothing. Bad day: Write one thing you're keeping only because giving it up feels like a loss. |
| Day 6 | Run a premortem. Take one plan you're working on, imagine it's a year from now and it has failed, and write the reasons why in ten minutes. Bad day: Write one sentence starting “This failed because...” about a current plan. |
| Day 7 | Use the outside view. For one project you're estimating, find out how long or how well similar projects went, and adjust your plan toward that. Bad day: Write down how long your last similar project actually took next to your current estimate. |
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