How To Ban Irrationality From Your Life And Lead With Purpose

We’re all irrational creatures at our core.

We let emotions plague our feelings as we pursue things that stroke our egos and confirm our long-held biases. “It is impossible to not have our inclinations and feelings somehow involved in what we think,” writes Robert Greene in The Daily Laws.

As a leader, mixing in our irrationality is detrimental to our leadership capabilities. People are complex, and their complexity doesn’t need to be fueled by a leader’s ego.

These will help you think more rationally:

1/ Develop self-awareness.

The first step to becoming more rational is knowing you’re irrational.

Rational people acknowledge their irrational tendencies. They’re introspective. They view the world from a separate lens, a lens often clouded my biases and assumptions.

Irrational people aren’t aware.

2/ Have emotional control.

Rational people have a level of control over their emotions.

They still get emotional, but they don’t let those emotions drive their decisions. They sure don’t let emotions drive their leadership responsibilities.

An example is if someone doesn’t show up to work, a leader becomes irrational, frustrated, and furious. So they send a nasty email to the employee. But shortly after, the team member replies they had a death in the family and have been consumed by the loss.

An empathetic leader would have first heard from the team member and then helped them as much as they could to get past this tragic life event. There are hundreds of other similar scenarios.

Emotions fuel irrationality.

3/ Go slow, to go fast.

Irrational people rush into action.

They make assumptive decisions or judgments with little consideration.

They “jump the gun,” says Robert Greene. “Irrational people become highly emotional when challenged about the emotional roots of their decisions.“

Rational people take things slower. They let their emotions subside so they can think through a situation. They go slow, to go fast.

It takes practice, but work every day to hone your rationality skills; it’ll pay dividends to your life, especially to those you lead.

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