Conquer Your Day with Anchors: A Psychology Trick for Big Results

Ever feel like your daily goals are either a total breeze or a never-ending slog? Well, buckle up, because today we’re diving into a cool mental trick called the anchoring effect that can turn your workday into a smooth-sailing success story.

The Anchoring Effect: A Sneaky But Powerful Influence

Have you ever noticed how that first piece of information you hear can stick in your mind and influence your thinking? That’s the anchoring effect at play! It’s a common thing in psychology where our brains rely too heavily on the first bit of info we get when making estimates.

Here’s a classic experiment by Nobel Prize winner Daniel Kahneman that perfectly shows the anchoring effect in action:

Imagine two groups of people. One group is asked: “Is the height of the tallest building in the world more or less than 1200 feet?” The other group is asked the same question but with a “low anchor” of 180 feet. Now, both groups are asked to guess the actual height of the tallest building.

Results?

The group with the “high anchor” of 1200 feet guessed an average height of 844 feet. The group with the “low anchor” of 180 feet guessed an average of only 282 feet! A whopping difference of 562 feet, all because of the initial number they were exposed to.

Numerous experiments have confirmed this effect, showing that the anchoring effect is a reliable and robust phenomenon.

From Anchored Estimates to Anchored Achievements: How to Use This to Your Advantage

So, how can we leverage this powerful psychological quirk to conquer our daily to-do lists? Here’s where things get interesting: our brains aren’t always the best at estimating how long tasks will take. We either underestimate and wind up swamped with work, or overestimate and get bored cramming a tiny task into a giant time slot.

For instance, let’s say you have a ton of leftover study topics to conquer. You might just set a goal to study “all day,” which feels overwhelming and sets you up for procrastination.

Here’s where the anchoring effect comes in!

By breaking down your studying into smaller chunks, you create “anchors” for your brain. Instead of one big, scary goal, you have multiple mini-goals, like tackling a specific chapter for two hours. This makes the task seem less daunting and keeps you focused. Plus, the more mini-goals you complete, the more motivated you’ll feel to keep going!

This same trick can be applied to any area of your life. Feeling overwhelmed by a messy house? Break down cleaning into sections (kitchen for 30 minutes, bathroom for 20 minutes). Need to brainstorm ideas for a project? Set a timer for 15 minutes and force yourself to come up with as many ideas as possible.

Remember, the key is to set realistic time slots for each mini-goal. The average adult attention span is around 5 hours, so cramming for 8 hours straight might not be the most effective strategy.

Think of it like this: Break down your multiple big goals into multiple small ones in a single day and then carry on the process for many days to complete all the small ones.

For example, suppose you have major goals to complete, say A, B, and C, and each one will take 8 hours to complete for you. So instead of completing them one by one like completing A on the first day, B on the second, and C on the third day, break down A into (a1, a2, a3, a4), B into (b1, b2, b3, b4), and C into (c1, c2, c3, c4) and then allot 2 hours to each element of set A, B, and C (i.e., 2 hours each for a1, b1, and c1 for the first day, 2 hours each for a2, b2, c2 for the second day, and so on).

This ensures you don’t get bored doing the same task all day, and due to the more significant number of goals, your mind has an anchoring effect. And also, completing one goal sets an example for others, and the process continues.

Remember, this is just a blueprint! You’ll likely need to adjust the number of mini-goals and time allotments based on your specific projects. However, by harnessing the power of the anchoring effect, you can transform your daily routine from a struggle to a satisfying symphony of productivity!

Create and record your performance data in Excel/google sheet and see for yourself. If you’d like a sample sheet, email me at siddhavh@gmail.com.