How doctors tackle uncertainty

Learn to harness the formidable power of the differential diagnosis, and make better decisions

Hey, friends. Want to improve your decision-making chops? Well, watch this:

(Side note: Man, I forget just how terrible of a doctor House was.)

Today, let’s transform your decision-making by diving into how doctors make diagnoses—and how to harness that power in your own life.

But first, some background. Remember in September’s post about the anchoring bias, when I introduced you to my friend, Dr. Chris? Chris made a mistake—with pretty severe consequences, as we’ll see—and it’s a mistake you’re probably making every day without even realizing it.

Here’s the story: Chris is a physician who, a few years ago, was successfully sued because he missed cancer diagnosis.

Now, Chris didn’t miss the cancer because he’s unintelligent, nefarious, sloppy, mean, or an unskilled doctor. Not at all. He’s everything a doctor should be.

He messed up because he fell victim to one of the most powerful ways our brains sabotage us. Chris’s error cost his patient an invasive and disfiguring treatment—and it also cost Chris a lot of money.

As a surgeon and decision analyst, I’ve seen firsthand how missteps in decision-making happen, even with highly skilled professionals like Dr. Chris.

You’re probably falling victim to the same anchoring bias that Chris did. Have you ever chosen something way too quickly, and then regretted picking the first thing you thought of?

Or, on the flip side, have you ever hesitated so long with a big decision — because you got it wrong before — that you lost the opportunity?

Well, both of those may be due to your brain’s tendency to anchor on the first piece of information it gets.

Anchoring can drive you to make decisions without enough information—or conversely, to become so scared of doing that, that you hit decision paralysis.

And while it may never land you in a medical lawsuit, anchoring can cost you poor…