Lack of critical attention

Not everything is as it seems. Taking time to think about something in depth is sometimes the key to finding the right solution.

Taking time to think with all the pressure and multitasking?!?

Why could it be helpful after all?

Here are two simplified examples:

First task: In the picture below, the two arrows seem to be of different length at first, measure if it is true.

Second task: Lets solve the below math problem:

• One baseball bat and one baseball cost CHF 1.10
• The baseball bat costs one franc more than the baseball bat
• How much is the baseball

A number comes to your mind. The number is, of course, 10 centimes. The characteristic feature of assuming without thinking is that it suggests an answer that is intuitively tempting and wrong. Calculate it and you will see.

The correct answer is 5 centimes.

One of the solutions to give us time to think or focus is, for example, the Kanban method. With this article I would like to encourage leaders to allow time to think for themselves and their employees.

A Bernese proverb says: We slow down so that things go faster. There seems to be some truth in that.

The two tasks are from the book Thinking, Fast and Slow. It gives a good insight into how our thinking processes work.