Hacking your brain to enhance decision-making

#brainhacking #neuroscience #brain #brainscience #personaldevelopment #decisionmaking #sleadershipdevelopment #decisions

© 2025 Zoryna O’Donnell

This article was first published by The Maverick Paradox Magazine on 27/02/2025

On 1 April 1976, Ronald Wayne, a retired electronics industry business executive, became a co-founder of a company with two other individuals. Wayne had concerns about the financial risks involved with this venture. He could not afford to take these risks, so just 12 days later he sold his 10% stake in this company for $800 to the other two co-founders. In 1977, Wayne accepted the final payment of $1,500 to give up any future claims against the newly incorporated company.

The name of this company is Apple. In November 2024, the estimated worth of Wayne’s 10% stake was over $345 billion.

Wayne's decision to sell his stake in Apple is often cited as one of the costliest decision-making mistakes in business history. However, the man himself insisted that this was the right decision based on the information available at the time because it was made with due consideration of his financial security, health and peace of mind. Mr Wayne did not want to become the richest man in the cemetery.

According to some internet sources, an average adult makes up to 35,000 decisions every day. Yet not all of those decisions are conscious, i.e. made with a conscious thought or mental effort. The late Dr Daniel Kahneman, Nobel Prize winner and author of Thinking, Fast and Slow argued that up to 95% of our thinking (and resulting decisions) may be happening in “System 1” - fast, automatic, intuitive and operating below the level of our awareness with little or no effort. This mode of thinking enables us to make quick decisions and judgments based on patterns and experiences. It relies on mental shortcuts called heuristics to make decisions.  The rest of our thinking and decision making is happening in “System 2” which is rational, slow, deliberate, conscious and requiring intentional effort. We use this mode of thinking for complex problem-solving and analytical tasks.

Here are some brain hacks to reduce decision fatigue and enhance decision-making. …

Please read the entire article here. [ https://themaverickparadox.com/hacking-your-brain-to-enhance-decision-making/ ]

Image credit: Mohamed_hassan via Pixabay.