Finale: the “Hack the decision” simulator
Lesson 31 of 31 in the course “Brain Hacks”. Free, with animations and a quiz.
Finale: three steps for every trap
You’ve finished 30 lessons. Remember the two lines from the very first one? Even when you know they’re equal, your eye still sees a difference. Thinking bugs work the same way: knowing their names isn’t enough, you need to spot them in real life within seconds. So the finale is a training ground. Ahead are 10 situations from Danya’s life, each with three steps. First: notice that the autopilot is driving. The giveaway is usually a feeling of “this is obvious” or “I have to hurry.” Second: name the bug. Third: switch on a hack from the course. Answer on your own first, then read the breakdown. That’s how the pilot learns to step in on time, not after the purchase.
Situations 1–2: a post with a timer and a discounted course
Situation 1. A post in the feed: “This coin will 100x, entry closes in 3 hours, 12 spots left.” Heart racing, you want to get in. The bug: urgency and scarcity. The less time you have, the less chance the pilot switches on, and that’s exactly what the timer is for. The hack: a 24-hour pause and the stop list. A real opportunity survives 24 hours, and the “last spots” are almost always still there tomorrow. Situation 2. An editing course: “was $499, now $99, today only.” The bug: anchoring. The crossed-out number exists to make 99 feel like a gift. The hack: cover the crossed-out price with your finger and ask how much you’d pay without seeing it, and what similar courses cost. Then come up with three reasons the price is inflated.
Situations 3–4: a blogger with a “system” and fear of flying
Situation 3. A blogger shows 5 profitable trades in a row and sells his “system.” Looks convincing. The bug: the law of small numbers. A streak of five wins at 50/50 odds happens roughly once in 32 tries, and there are millions of traders, so someone is bound to get lucky. The hack: “how many attempts were there?” A system is tested on dozens and hundreds of trades, not on one lucky week. Situation 4. Danya spent a week watching plane-crash videos and is now scared to fly to the beach, though he happily rides a scooter without a helmet. The bug: the availability trap. Vivid cases are easy to recall, so they feel common. The hack: “how often does this really happen?” Feed examples are hand-picked, while risk is shown by statistics, not videos.
Situations 5–6: a coin in the red and a channel in a week
Situation 5. Danya’s coin fell 60%. Selling hurts: “I’ve put in so much, I’ll wait for it to come back.” The bug: loss aversion and sunk cost. A loss feels roughly 1.5–2.5 times stronger than an equal gain, and the money already spent can’t be recovered by any decision. The hack: “would I buy this today at this price?” If not, holding the coin is almost the same as buying it again. Situation 6. Danya decided: “I’ll launch an editing channel in a week, 10 videos.” The bug: the planning fallacy. We plan for the best case and forget how much usually goes wrong. The hack: a premortem. Imagine a month has passed and it all failed, and spend five minutes writing why. Then take the outside view: how long does a project like this usually take others?
Situations 7–8: the “everyone bought” chat and a silent friend
Situation 7. A group chat says “everyone’s already bought, you in?” and 20 people drop a fire emoji. The bug: conformity. When unsure, the brain looks at others, and fire emojis in a chat say nothing about the quality of a deal. The hack: your own view first. Write down your decision before reading the chat, and check the crowd: who are these people, and what do they actually have in their accounts? Situation 8. A friend hasn’t replied for two days. Thought: “he’s ignoring me, he’s offended.” The bug: character instead of situation. We explain others’ actions by their character and our own by circumstances. The hack: “what would make me do the same?” Exams, a broken phone, a rough week. Ask how he’s doing first, draw conclusions later.
Situations 9–10: “science proves” and “I just know”
Situation 9. A video: “Science proves 2 minutes in a power pose raises testosterone.” The bug: a famous study that didn’t replicate. When it was retested with 200 participants, hormones didn’t change. The hack: four questions. Did other teams repeat it? How many people were there? Was the analysis plan announced in advance? Isn’t it too good to be true? Situation 10. Danya has been trading for two weeks and feels: “I just know, it’s about to go up.” The bug: confidence without experience. How strong a feeling is says nothing about how accurate it is. The hack: three questions for your gut. Are there stable rules here, or a lot of randomness? Have I made decisions like this hundreds of times? Did I find out quickly and clearly whether I was right? For a market newbie the answers are “no,” so the gut feeling is a hypothesis, not a signal.
The whole course on one screen
Look how far you’ve come. Level one: there are two pilots in your head, and the fast autopilot drives almost everything. Level two: the autopilot has predictable bugs, such as anchoring, availability and loss aversion. Level three: cues around us do influence us, but many famous studies didn’t replicate. Level four: the situation and the people around you decide more than it seems. Level five: motivation works better when the method fits your style, and intuition can be trusted only under three conditions. Level six: you can program your own autopilot, defend against manipulation and influence honestly. Save this screen: it has one key hack for each level.
The last hack: a five-question remote
Ask these five questions when a decision matters: money, studies, relationships, health. Not for small stuff: the autopilot isn’t your enemy and saves energy. One: does this feel “obvious” or “urgent” right now? That’s a sign the autopilot is driving. Two: what number or cue did I see first, and is it pulling me? Three: how often does this really happen, what’s the base rate? Four: would I decide the same way in a day? Five: do I have a ready-made “if X, then Y” plan? You won’t become error-free, nobody does. But now you notice when someone grabs the wheel, and you know how to take it back. That’s what hacking your brain means. Congrats, you’ve finished the course!
Check yourself
- Masha: “A friend made 10x on a memecoin in a month, so it’s doable.” Which bug?
Correct answer: The losers are invisible: no base rate. Right. Success stories are loud, and losers stay quiet. Start from the base rate: out of everyone who bought memecoins, how many made money at all? - Danya didn’t sleep last night and must pick a laptop by evening. What will really help?
Correct answer: Get at least some sleep and decide by pre-written criteria. Yes. Sleep reliably restores attention and memory, and a tired pilot hands the wheel to the autopilot. Criteria written in advance protect you from random cues in the store. - A seller first shows a $2500 laptop, then one for “only” $1200. Which hack works best?
Correct answer: Set your ceiling in advance and ask what you’d pay without seeing the first price. Yes. It’s an anchor: the $2500 is there to make $1200 look modest. Your own ceiling and the question “what would I pay without the first price” hand the decision back to the pilot. - What’s the main thing you take away from this course?
Correct answer: Spot trap situations and keep a ready-made hack. Right. The bugs don’t disappear, but if you recognize the situation and have an “if X, then Y” plan ready, the pilot gets to the wheel in time.