A Joosr Guide to The Art of Thinking Clearly by Rolf Dobelli

Workers will therefore be more motivated by the threat of losing $500 than they would be by the chance to gain $500

In other words, luck didn’t cause you to win; winning caused you to believe in luck!

Our emotions can also be easily influenced by outside resources like incentives and reasoning. We subconsciously want everything that happens to have a purpose, so when someone gives us a reason for an action or an incentive to complete a job, our minds see an end to the story and our emotions light up positively.

First, humans are loss averse, meaning they are generally affected more strongly by loss than gain. Workers will therefore be more motivated by the threat of losing $500 than they would be by the chance to gain $500.

we do the same thing with negatives: We worry about awful things happening to us, even though they’re incredibly unlikely, but do nothing about mildly unpleasant things that are sure to happen daily.

To keep a clear mind, you need to constantly keep a realistic idea of your own skill level, as well as the chance you have to succeed. Be honest with yourself about failures, and, most of all, set a limit on yourself so you’ll know when to stop pursuing a dangerous or harmful goal.

We as humans are sometimes so driven to win that we don’t recognize situations where we stand to lose more by winning than we stand to gain.