By Arpita Kar | PGP-ABM 2010

The language of design surrounds us. Whether it is physical design, such as how the curvature of a phone feels in one’s hand, or cognitive design, such as how red and white clothing in winter reminds one of Santa Claus, design language is everywhere! 

And not only is it everywhere, but it also shapes the way we perceive reality. We absorb shapes, images, words, and colors around us. They linger in our minds and eventually shape our thoughts, and thoughts have a way of shaping reality.

Yet, we tend to think very little about how we design our own lives. One might be inclined to believe that the topic does not need much thinking, as much of our lives is designed for us. Due to the specific parameters of the life we inherit and the circumstances that we grow up with, we may be forgiven for feeling that there are a number of factors outside our sphere of control and that the choices are made for us. However, for each of us, within those constraints lie pivotal decision points – choices that alter life trajectories, trigger long chains of consequences, and determine how fully and intentionally we live. 

Let us consider a thought experiment:

Y has just won $1 million in a contest and is feeling exceptionally lucky. The organizers approach her and present an alluring proposition. She has two options :

Invest $50,000 from her winnings for a 10% chance of winning again and doubling her prize money! Seems like a pretty lucrative option, but the catch is that the probability of winning will be a meager 10%. Not great odds, but the downside risk of losing $50,000 is not prohibitively large given her access to the initial winnings of $1 million. She wants to try her luck.

But wait! Y has just been given another option. The organizers are happy to increase the statistical probability of her winning to a staggering 95% by tweaking the rules of the contest. However, the cost of her participation will increase to $500,000. Now that is half of her winnings! Does she take the chance? 

Well, no – here’s the discomfort. That risk of 5%, that risk of losing so much, may cause sleepless nights and massive regret. Ultimately, it does not seem to be worth the hassle. The number of individuals saying yes to the second proposition significantly trickles down, even though the expected monetary value of the investment in the second scenario is way higher, in fact, nine times higher than Option 1! Many individuals will regard a 95% probability – a near certainty- with skepticism, listing out the risks in their mind and wondering if a large investment is really worth it. 

This is a type of cognitive bias best explained by prospect theory – one of many behavioral economic theories that leads to non-rationality of human choices. Individuals tend to perceive probabilities from 0 to 1 non-uniformly across the spectrum. Many feel a cognitive dissonance when options need to be weighed against an outcome requiring a higher risk tolerance. Simply put, when the stakes are higher, individuals tend to undervalue positive outcomes and overvalue the attendant risks. 

Decision by default: 

Human biases shape not only financial choices but major life decisions. As decisions become more important, more consequential, we tend to minimize loss. One way of doing this is to rely on socially approved frameworks to rationalize big moves: how many years of education qualify as sufficient to determine the right career, how long one should stay in a job before making any big entrepreneurial or creative decisions, and how much data to gather before choosing a life partner. We look around and deal with these big decisions with an intentional templating of our lives. Familiar templates reinforced by education, gender, age, or wage speed up our decision process but also nudge us slowly into comfort zones that hinder action.

Are we attuned to making independent, rational choices with the best information at hand, or do we give in to decisions by default? Does comfort hinder action and sometimes the pursuit of loftier goals? 

Embracing Discomfort: 

Our entire race is geared towards evolution, towards progress. When we are younger, it is easy to define what progress means. Graduating to the next class, getting into a great college, and climbing the ranks in an organization. All indicate progress that can be validated externally. The steps are not only well defined, but they are also organized into easy-to-consume, yearly blocks of progress. 

Stepping outside of one’s comfort zone and going beyond the template is incredibly hard and demands willpower. Not only that, we burden this choice by expecting disproportionate rewards for the efforts we make. Being different requires reversing ingrained biases and confronting our own fears of stagnation, or worse, failure. Most people default to more of the same because it is simply met with less friction. 

But repetition isn’t necessarily progress. Repetition without reflection merely habituates us to a certain way of life, even at the risk of repeating errors and habits that no longer serve us. It can trick our brain into an illusion of movement while being stuck in the same place. If we don’t pause for fear of seeming stationary, we risk running around in circles and defaulting to the same obvious patterns of movement, simply living the same life, over and over. 

True progress requires intention and action. It requires being uncomfortable and engaging in honest reflection to remove blind spots and biases, not merely creating busier versions of the same old habits. It can be argued that creating a powerful existence is not one big glorious action; it’s many tiny incremental actions, divided among the roles we embody – child, parent, learner, educator, employee, owner. 

Once we activate the intentional mindset, we can change gears and convert inaction into momentum. And the best thing about momentum? It compounds over time. 

THE END 

Author Bio : 

                           

Arpita Kar is an alumnus of the PGP-ABM batch of 2010. She draws on 15 years of consulting experience advising global financial institutions across risk, compliance, and regulatory transformation. Based in Singapore, Arpita and her husband spend weekends watching their two kids turn neighbourhood parks into adventure courses.