We like to think of ourselves as rational beings.
Whether we’re making choices in a personal or professional context, we assume that we’re capable of accurately (dispassionately) analysing the facts of the matter at hand & coming to the optimal conclusion.
And just as we consider ourselves capable of completely rational action, we look around us and see that – by the large – no one else is.
Time after time, we see other people failing to deal with reality as it is.
Rather than seeing clearly, they seem to navigate through the world with a haze of biases obscuring their vision.
We see the sins of the other, plain as day.
What we fail to see is that we’re operating in the exact same manner. Far more often than we’d like to think.
Here’s the issue with assuming people should (or do) behave rationally:
Life doesn’t work like that.
Beyond a very, very narrow range of circumstances – where most people would agree on the “right” course of action is – everything we do is open to interpretation.
The meaning, the factors that nudge you one way or the other, the results, how you feel about it – none of it is set in stone.
Every one of us is a professional rationaliser.
We’re capable of justifying any decision to ourselves.
We do this to a degree where we can convince ourselves that we’re making the right choice. No matter what that choice is.
Among many other things, this is a self-preservation mechanism. Because if we can’t trust ourselves and our ability to pick the right path, then what can we trust?
But crucially, the takeaway point here isn’t to lose all faith in our ability to make good decisions.
Instead, we can come to a much more freeing conclusion…
Rationality is an illusion. Far more important that finding the “optimal” solution is finding one you’re happy with. A reasonable solution.
What’s rational to one person is completely irrational to another. Driven by context.
In most cases, a “perfect path” doesn’t exist…
And when it does, it’s rarely one we’re interested in walking – for any number of reasons.
But of the paths available to us, some will call out more than others.
Among those options, we don’t need to preoccupy ourselves with the paralysis and indecision of picking the “best” one.
Any reasonable path will get us to our destination if taken to its conclusion.
With that in mind, the game shifts from selecting one winner from the losers to selecting a good option (one you can live with) from the range of those available.
We can’t always be rational. But we can always be reasonable.