(I really need to get serious about exercise.) We don’t have access to that (largely internal) process in others, so we tend to take their certainty as more compelling, in many cases, than our own. We are painfully aware of all the fretting and indecision, all the nuances of our internal decision-making process that led us to reach a particular conclusion. It is Levitins 3rd consecutive best-seller, debuting at 2 on the. Why? Because as with the fundamental attribution error we saw in Chapter 4, we don’t have access to others’ minds, only our own. Levitin, PhD, and first published by Dutton Penguin in the United States and Canada in 2014. I can’t design my own workout-what do I know?” It takes Herculean amounts of discipline to overcome the brain’s bias against self-generated motivational systems. “My trainer told me to do three sets of ten reps at forty pounds-he’s a trainer, he must know what he’s talking about. This may help explain why it’s easier to stick with an exercise program or diet that someone else sets up: We typically trust them as “experts” more than we trust ourselves. When we step into someone else’s system, the brain marks it that way.

When we set up a system, this part of the brain marks it as self-generated. Levitin, Ph.D. Adding the digital Candyland to the mix, we’re easily overwhelmed, our most important goals derailed. Previously we just had the physical world to contend with. Related to the manager/worker distinction is that the prefrontal cortex contains circuits responsible for telling us whether we’re controlling something or someone else is. Levitin) Information storage isn’t the problem, but rather it’s the organisation and retrieval of that information. This allows us to get more done and finish up with more energy. “efficiently means providing slots in our schedules where we can maintain an attentional set for an extended period.

The organized mind levitin