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Summary of Blink By Malcolm Gladwell
When you pay attention to your intuition or what your gut is communicating, it becomes easier to make quick and effective decisions that can be, according to Malcom Gladwell’s Blink: The Power of Thinking without Thinking, much more effective than decisions made after conscious deliberation. According to the author, “There can be as much value in the blink of an eye as in months of rational analysis.”
The Premise Of The Book
Blink is about how to make intuitive, effective decisions, to listen to your gut and use it to make snap judgment calls all the while avoiding wrong assumptions.
“Blink” is about the moments when we know something without knowing why.”
Malcolm Gladwell
In this book summary, we look at the main principles discussed in the book and more importantly, how you can apply these principles into your life right now to achieve amazing results immediately:
Lesson 1: Understand And Use The Power Of Intuition
One standout characteristic of being human is that we are capable of drawing accurate conclusions from small amounts of data; Malcolm Gladwell calls this thin-slice, our ability to combine small amounts of information with intuition and our experiences to make informed decisions.
“Anyone who has ever scanned the bookshelves of a new girlfriend or boyfriend – or peeked inside his or her medicine cabinet – understands this implicitly; you can learn as much – or more – from one glance at a private space as you can from hours of exposure to a public face.”
Malcolm Gladwell
The concept of thin-slicing, using little information to make smart, intuitive decisions with minimal deliberation is a core principle Gladwell shares in the book.
Our subconscious mind is very intuitive and fast at filtering information. When presented with new information, the subconscious mind has the ability to sift through the information, toss out irrelevant and trivial factors, and rapidly analyze the main factors to present you with an intuitive decision. The subconscious mind has the ability to recognize connections and patterns long before the conscious mind does.
“Our unconscious reactions come out of a locked room, and we can’t look inside that room. Guided by experience a person can become expert.”
Malcolm Gladwell
Lesson 2: Your Gut/Intuition Is Not Always Right
While snap-second decisions tend to be more accurate than overanalyzed decisions–thanks to our subconscious ability to see patterns and relate them—they are not always correct. In some cases, untrained intuition can lead to stereotypes, prejudiced, and biased decisions.
For example, because the subconscious mind connects patterns, when you get into a situation you have been in before, your subconscious mind can draw similarities from these experiences, thus leading to an ineffective decision. This makes experience and preconditioning very important aspects of intuitive decision-making.
“In the blink of an eye, a single expert can usually tell you more than a mountain of survey data.”
Malcolm Gladwell
Some situations can also compromise your intuitive ability, the ability to make decisions in a blink. Take the example of high stress situations. When you are in a high stress situation, it compromises your ability to thin-slice through information–such as reading facial expressions. When this happens, your subconscious mind, the intuitive mind, focuses only on what it considers the most important, imminent bits of information. Often, concentrating on what it considers a threatening, imminent piece of information leads to prejudiced decisions.
To ensure your intuition does not make prejudiced, snap-decisions, aim to minimize arousal. For instance, work to minimize stress so that the subconscious mind can recalibrate its internal filter and stop being on overdrive or concentrating on an impeding threat.
“Arousal leaves us mind-blind.”
Malcolm Gladwell
Lesson 3: Calibrate Your Filter
At the center of our ability to make decisions in the blink of an eye is our subconscious mind’s ability to filter and relate information to and from our experiences. Stressful situations cause prejudiced intuition because they filter what information the subconscious mind considers important.
“[Research] suggests that what we think of as free will is largely an illusion: much of the time, we are simply operating on automatic pilot, and the way we think and act – and how well we think and act on the spur of the moment – are a lot more susceptible to outside influences than we realize.”
Malcolm Gladwell
Other than stress, common experiences ingrained deeply in our subconscious mind can also jeopardize our intuitive ability. The best way to counter this is to create personal filters and screens that help ensure irrelevant information does not reach the subconscious mind in the first place.
For instance, if you look into your life and notice areas where you make biased decisions, create screens and filters that reduce the amount of information reaching your subconscious mind—reduce the flow of information by up to 40%. It will significantly improve your intuition and decision making abilities.
“The power of knowing, in that first two seconds, is not a gift given magically to a fortunate few. It is an ability that we can all cultivate for ourselves.”
Malcolm Gladwell
Conclusion
Cultivate present mindfulness of yourself so that you can know when to trust your instincts–and use it to make intuitive, snap decisions—and when to give decisions deep conscious thought.
Link to video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rie9Pkp4Ktk
I've made over 80 summaries of the best self improvement books, here’s a full playlist of them: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOImyOGN9UE&list=PLaNTB6oQAa0AYuul0tqUscg1ZLj_arZga
I release a new video every other day, if you’re interested in subscribing here’s a link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfbLDMh6uGOZePAfqqjVZ-g?sub_confirmation=1
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