The illusion of focus

Throughout the next article I am going to explain the term «the illusion of focus» and its direct relationship with happiness.

I’ll tell you about the trivia, and the total. Also of stock investments, and we will focus mainly as a central axis on happiness.

I will make them participate in how to «trick» their brain so that they are happier.

Daniel kahneman

The term «focus illusion» was coined by the Israeli psychologist and Nobel laureate in economics, Daniel Kahneman. Of course, he did not do it alone, he did it with the psychologist at the University of California-San Diego, David Schkade.

With this term they partly explained the mistakes we make when estimating the effects of different scenarios on our happiness.

Definition of the illusion of focus

«Nothing in life is as important as you think it is until you think about it. Why? Because you are thinking about it! «

Ergo, the more we focus on a particular aspect of our life, the greater its influence.

The ‘illusion of focus’ is a cognitive bias

A cognitive bias is a systematic misinterpretation of available information that influences the way you process thoughts, make judgments, and make decisions. The concept of cognitive bias was introduced by Israeli psychologists Kahneman and Tversky in 1972.

Distorted perception

There are an infinity of factors that make us have a certain perception of our level of well-being. These factors are inherited factors, or they are factors that we ourselves invent by comparison with our environment.

If we take a specific event in our lives, and we tend to exaggerate the importance of that event in front of everyone else, it will have a direct impact on our well-being.

When you give importance to something, at that precise moment happiness comes into play.

We accept automatisms

Our brain easily accommodates itself to automatisms, through these automatisms: it does not think, and it acts.

The automatisms act to avoid pain, to make us feel comfortable: we flee from fear.

But these automatisms do nothing other than provide us with errors in thinking.

The fact of not facing pain, gradually moves us away from happiness.

About happiness

Since our perception of reality is cleverly distorted, we believe that happiness is doing things all day that make us happy. But, your happiness will not be more abundant if you constantly do things that make you happy.

It is well known that human beings get used to good things with extreme ease. So much so that our adaptation to the bad is very poor.

With what our brain by logical automatisms tends to repeat a sequence of plans, tasks, or attitudes that give us security and well-being.

But, if nothing changes, even if everything is good and positive, it tends to lose its value over time.

What really makes us happy

What brings us happiness is not the constant repetition of things that fill us with happiness. What really makes us happy are the changes and the way we adapt or overcome them. That is what is exhilarating for us.

Happiness generates it for us: facing challenges, assuming changes, and overcoming situations.

The illusion of focus and the stock market world

All investors at some point are holders of shares that make them lose more and more, and wait for them to recover within the market. This does not bring them any happiness.

But why don’t the positions close?

They simply do not sell them because of the pain of the loss, and our brain tries to avoid the pain at all costs. In this case the pain of loss.

One of the main learnings of the investor must be to avoid biases and beliefs, which are what try to avoid suffering and pain. From this fundamental pillar of learning, critical and individualized thinking can begin to be generated.

The brain, the stock Exchange, and the life

The secret to making good decisions is not letting the brain choose.

If we look at the weather forecast, and we see that it is going to rain: this conditions us absolutely. This is what they should avoid: the brain imposing its biases, and telling us that it is not going to be a happily perfect day.

Our state of mind should never be conditioned under any circumstances.

If we condition ourselves or are conditioned when investing in a certain stock, even if this long-term value makes us lose money: our brain will look for a self-justification bias, later it will look for a confirmation bias – the principle of all belief -.

«The dumbest reason in the world to buy a stock is because it is going up». Warren Buffett.

Actually, our gaze must focus on the extension of the entire horizon, not only on one point or a small group of points.

Whatever the current situation you facetes …

«It’s not what got you here;
the most important
is that now you are here
Y,
how far it will take you
the chance of fate».

The global approach as a fundamental aspect of happiness

We must give unique importance to the «total». This will make us take perspective thus identifying the illusion of focus. With this we will be positive in the indefinable long term.

Warren Buffett compared his life to that of an average citizen a few dates ago, and realized that he was practically the same.

Buffett spends a third of his life sleeping on a regular mattress, buying clothes on sale. His favorite drink is Coca-Cola. He works at a normal desk, he has had his office in the same location since 1962.

If you compare your life with one of the richest people in the world, you will find that the effect of wealth is negligible.

But if you use his brain to focus on punctualities, and not on the whole: he will think that while you travel in a conventional plane with its inconveniences, Buffett travels in his private plane.

Remember that these aspects of Warren Buffett’s life represent less than 0.1% of yours.

«When life is focused on trivialities, life ceases to be a good life to fade into constant disappointment».

David EPC ©
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