You may not have realized that Binary Thinking is as natural to you as the Unholy Trinity. Just like the Unholy Trinity constantly stands in your path of a better existence, so does Binary Thinking. I would like you to understand why this phenomenon exists, in what form it exists, and how you can master it to work in your favour.

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Contents

Familiar Scenarios
Origins of Binary Thinking
Beyond Binary
Evolutionary Stages
Surviving vs Thriving
1234Modern Life Obstacles
1234Going beyond Physical Health
12341234Relationships
12341234Career Planning
12341234Business
1234We HAVE Been Thinking It Through
The Need for a Plan
Systematic Action Plan
1234Mindset
1234Spectrum Thinking
1234Think Fast, Think More
1234High Speed Binary Thinking
1234Superlative Spectrum Thinking
1234Using Both Systems Optimally
12341234The Ultra-Fast End
12341234The Maximum Middle
12341234The Super-Slow End
Tracking
Parting Message

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Familiar Scenarios [top]

Consider the following question thrown at you when you are at a restaurant.

“Would you like a large salad or a cheeseburger with fries?”

How about these, while you are eating that salad or burger:

“Is your career progressing well?”
“Would you like your sales to triple next month?”
“Do you wish you were younger and back in college?”
“Is it more important to lift weights or do cardio?”
“Is it important to run or is it sufficient just to walk?

If you answered immediately without much thought or a prior plan then you have done what we call Binary Thinking.

Origins of Binary Thinking [top]

Let us set the stage for understanding today’s problem more clearly. First, we revisit the Unholy Trinity which has 3 parts that are so simple and, yet, form powerful drivers for your decisions:

• Avoid pain
• Seek pleasure
• Conserve energy

Evolutionarily, your ability to make quick, decisive judgments of a binary nature has been crucial for survival. For example, distinguishing between “safe” and “dangerous” or “friend” and “foe” allowed your ancestors and mine to respond effectively to threats. That ability is driven by the “avoid pain” part of the Unholy Trinity.

Beyond the threat of extinction, our brains also evolved to use mental shortcuts or heuristics, which simplify complex decision-making processes. These shortcuts help conserve the brain’s resources, especially in situations where quick judgment is necessary. The brain simplifies information into binary categories for easier decision-making especially but not only when the response time needs to be short. That ability and tendency are driven by the “conserve energy” part of the Unholy Trinity.

Beyond Binary [top]

Modern-day living tends to be highly complex and correspondingly very nuanced. Even with that, some decisions can involve valid binary choices like “Should I include exercise in my otherwise sedentary lifestyle?”

However, many other situations can push us beyond brain energy conservation and require us to consider more information that might make the answer between binary options not quite so simple. Fortunately, the human brain has evolved to think beyond the binary – to consider more information and be aware of nuances and the possibility of more than 2 options. That is precisely what allows you to choose wisely in a restaurant when you have multiple goals to satisfy – pleasure from food, improving your health, sharing your food with your friends at the table, and so on.

Consider that question again:

“Would you like a large salad or a cheeseburger with fries?”

The answer would depend on many factors. We could ask follow-on questions like:

• What time of day is it?
• Will you be eating alone or will others also be ordering food to share?
• Is it a varied salad or does it have just cucumber and lettuce?
• Is the salad vegan or does it contain harmful things like tuna?
• Does the burger come with its own small salad too?
• Is the cheese made from dairy or is it a vegan alternative?
• Is the patty of the burger made from animal products or is it vegan?
• Is the flour for the bread made of refined wheat or a mix of healthy gluten-free whole grains?
• Are the fries just deep-fried potatoes or air-fried sweet potatoes?
• What else will be available for consumption during the meal and the rest of the day?

This list of questions for something as simple as a single restaurant meal does not make for an easy decision. It is for that reason that we are often tempted to go into Binary Thinking mode. To collapse the problem to a simple “I want to eat healthy food and a salad is healthier so that is what I will choose” might be the right choice in some settings but not in all.

Evolutionary Stages [top]

While older brain structures such as the amygdala, which processes emotions and immediate threats are associated with binary decision-making, the prefrontal cortex (responsible for higher cognitive functions) is involved in nuanced and complex decision-making. It is this additional complex decision-making that we have also evolved to do that separates us from other species. This newer more sophisticated “thriving system” is more energy-hungry and slower in its operation than the older “survival system.” And, even though we call it “sophisticated” it is far from perfect and extremely prone to errors in its functioning. What that means is that “thriving system” is actually a poor description – more often than not, we are making decisions that do not help us thrive.

Surviving vs Thriving [top]

Survival is a basic requirement without which thriving is impossible. To go beyond survival to thriving we must make decisions that not just keep us alive but also build a life worth living.

Modern Life Obstacles [top]

We need Binary Thinking in many modern life situations too e.g. when crossing a busy road. At times, even something like this is made cognitively easy for us – the government installs pedestrian traffic lights. Their investment in transforming a complex and risky situation into clear binary choice categories is good for the individual and for society – in the case of a busy road it is fewer accidents and deaths.

It is pivotal to note that the need to make quick decisions around life or death is uncommon for most of us in modern living, beyond avoiding road accidents. There are no poisonous berries being sold at the supermarket. There are no venomous snakes lurking around in your office lobby. Your bedroom at home is not threatened every night with a tsunami when you sleep.

So, then, what are the challenges?

Our challenges are modern challenges. Your supermarket will place nutrient-poor calorie-dense snacks in attractive packaging for you to give in to temptation. Your office will have a car park and elevators to take you up to a comfortable office. You can roll out of your house into your car and soon find yourself at your office desk having expended very little energy in movement from the time you rolled out of bed. Your home is comfortable and you may even have staff at home to prepare your meals, make your bed, organize your clothes, and keep all the rooms clean and tidy. There is nothing wrong with these facilities per se, we can still thrive with them around. The problem is that we do not learn how to thrive. The net result then is a poor overall quality of life. We please ourselves in the short term and disappoint ourselves in the long term. We must, therefore, learn to master anything that is at our disposal for our benefit and to not be subservient to it.

Going Beyond Physical Health [top]

Our brain’s primal drive to save energy means that we can fall into a mode of Binary Thinking in many important areas of life when it may not be in our best interests to do so. Consider these 3 areas of your life: relationships, career planning and business.

Binary Thinking in relationships involves you perceiving dynamics, decisions, or behaviours in rigid, black-and-white terms, such as categorizing them as strictly “good or bad,” “right or wrong,” or “successful or failed.” This overly simplistic perspective often neglects the complexity and subtleties inherent in human connections, potentially leading to unrealistic expectations and difficulties in effective communication. Looking back on your life, how often have you done Binary Thinking in your relationships at work, at home or when dealing with your friends? [top]

Binary Thinking in career planning involves an overly rigid, either-or mindset when making career decisions. For instance, you might frame choices as “success versus failure,” “passion versus practicality,” or “staying versus quitting,” without exploring the more nuanced options in between. This type of thinking can restrict your opportunities, reduce flexibility, and heighten stress, particularly in the face of the complexities of a rapidly changing job market. [top]

Binary Thinking in business describes the tendency to approach decisions and strategies with an oversimplified, either-or perspective. It reduces complex issues to straightforward dichotomies, such as “success versus failure,” “growth versus stability,” or “innovation versus tradition.” This approach can hinder creativity, restrict innovative solutions, and impede your business’s ability to effectively navigate the complexities of contemporary markets. [top]

We HAVE Been Thinking It Through [top]

It has been my endeavour to discuss and implement the best possible answers to questions for leading a better life in the 160+ articles of the last 11 years. Questions like:

• • Is my investment allocation appropriate?
  • Which is more important, strength training or cardio?
  • Does fasting cause muscle loss?
  • Should I feel safe because my employer provides medical insurance?
  • Will I be fluent if my school teaches a language for 5 years?
  • Is my hobby a waste of time?
  • Do I need to exercise a lot if I am thin?
  • Is veganism a scam?

There are many more questions that have yet to be addressed. Therefore, we need an action plan for thinking through our future choices and actions!

The Need for a Plan [top]

We understand that even when it is not a time-critical urgent matter of life or death, the “conserve energy” component of the Unholy Trinity still nudges us towards making binary decisions to help us conserve the brain’s energy. After that, it is all 3 parts of the Unholy Trinity ganging up to encourage us to choose a pleasurable but unhealthy treat, to avoid public transport for private cars, to avoid taking the stairs, to avoid doing housework if we can. If we are not careful our relationships can suffer because of Binary Thinking and we might make the wrong decisions regarding our career or business planning.

How are we to go beyond just surviving and also thrive given the practical realities of modern living and Binary Thinking?  Remember, our human brain has also evolved to be able to do more nuanced thinking. So, let us think through a practical action plan for life.

Systematic Action Plan [top]

Life is a journey, and if you think of this systematic action plan for decision-making as being like driving a car then you will be in a good place.

Rash driving is as bad as rash decision-making. We want to always avoid both.

At certain times in your life, swift decision-making is critical. This is also what you need to do when the car in front of you suddenly swerves into your lane. You must at those times be in Binary Thinking mode.

At all other times, it is important to be calm and engage your brain much more before any action.

Mindset [top]

Become more self-aware, aware that you have 2 decision-making modes just like you know you have a brake as well as a steering wheel when driving. Most of us are not even aware of the 2 systems, so then how can we even begin to have mastery over their use?

You should develop a growth mindset so that you can improve how you use the 2 systems as life progresses. You must believe that you can be a better driver!

Spectrum Thinking [top]

The opposite of Binary Thinking is often referred to as nuanced thinking, complex thinking, or dialectical thinking. Firstly, rather than thinking of them as being opposites, let us simply think of them as being distinct from each other. This kind of meta-thinking is important, just like we do not want to think of “boy” as being the opposite of “girl” – they are simply different.

Secondly, we are often reminded that “real life is not black and white, there are shades of grey!” I try to go further and encourage you to think of a multidimensional spectrum of colours, not a linear range of choices between this black end and that white end. This tactic to think beyond a single dimension triggers us to think outside the box for mundane and apparently simple problems e.g., what should I eat for lunch? and the more complex ones e.g., career planning. Life does not have to be a binary choice between a salad and a cheeseburger just because those two are what have been presented. Nor does it have to stay constrained to 70% salad and 30% burger – just another shade of grey.

Ask yourself, “Why not also consider going to the Chinese restaurant down the road instead?” That is what I call Spectrum Thinking.

Think Fast, Think More [top]

When we advise someone, “Wait, wait, slow down! Have you thought that through?” we are not encouraging them to think slowly before acting in response to a specific event. Our advice to “slow down” is to enable more thinking to happen. Even after thinking slowly, they might often stay in Binary Thinking mode because of the heuristics or rules of thumb that they might use. Rather than a decision based on Binary Thinking, we would like the person to engage in what I referred to as Spectrum Thinking. If after Spectrum Thinking about the problem, the decision is to narrow the problem down to binary choices, that is fine. So, the process-based goal we want to develop and meet is to step out of Binary Thinking to Spectrum Thinking when Binary Thinking is not necessary or appropriate.

High-Speed Binary Thinking [top]

We see around us that even with Binary Thinking some people think and act faster than others. To save you in those dangerous situations where Binary Thinking is critical, the response time of your nervous system and the reaction time of your neuromuscular system must be kept as short as possible.

We associate our brains with thoughts which are non-physical, and with thinking which is intangible. What most of us do not realize is that if you do not take care of your physical health, then your brain will be slower. And, even if you could think fast enough if your muscles do not respond fast enough, you will be in trouble. Taking care of your physical health is paramount. I do that to protect my favourite body part – my brain. Who does not want a razor-sharp, powerful, always-available, multipurpose tool?

Superlative Spectrum Thinking [top]

When in the mode of Spectrum Thinking, we would like for more and better thinking to happen in the same duration that is made available. What this means at a practical level for your life is the following list of distinct goals.

• Keep the physical mass of the brain clean so that the electrical signals within it flow smoothly
• Develop a greater ability to stay calm under stressful situations so that you make better decisions
• Engage in life-long learning so that the knowledge base you use for any decision-making is bigger and better organized. Work to ensure that it includes
  • not just knowledge in the area directly relevant to the problem being solved
  • but also develop an internal culture of an interest in making wise decisions with a set of morals you would like to adhere to
• Develop and maintain faster thinking overall
• Develop and maintain the ability to solve increasingly complex problems while remembering that
  • decision-making under uncertainty is a part and parcel of life
  • humans are subject to all kinds of cognitive biases that make it difficult but not impossible to make the right decisions between choices
• Develop and nurture an interest in solving complex problems

These goals are interconnected and are a mix of process-based and outcome-based goals. Refusing to think about working on these goals is the evil that you will have to try to avoid. Think and prosper internally and externally.

Using Both Systems Optimally [top]

In addition to keeping each system functioning superbly, how might we engage with both Binary Thinking and Spectrum Thinking in a systematic manner? Here is my framework:

Let us think of “required response time” as a key variable that drives our thinking and decisions. Then we know that urgent life or death situations are at the fastest end. At the slowest end are decisions around retirement and inheritance planning. Most of our daily decisions are in the middle.

The Ultra-Fast End [top]

You and I will do Binary Thinking in life-or-death situations whether anyone else wants us to or not. You will choose between fight or flight. Even before that, you will choose between freeze and fight-or-flight. What is in your control starting today, up to the future point of that life-or-death decision, is how you live your life going forward. Remember, we are talking about suddenly being in the most primitive of situations. And so, it is your physical health that you maintain that will decide the outcome. Fast thinking, quick response time, rapid actions. If you freeze when you ought to flee, you might never move again!

The Maximum Middle [top]

Beyond life-threatening situations which are expected to be extremely rare, researchers say that you make 35,000 decisions daily. It is in this middle zone, between the ultra-fast end and the super-slow end, where you must make sure that the decisions being made are in your best interests and not for the benefit of others. To avoid decision fatigue, many things are automatic from an early age e.g. watch your steps going down stairs. For many other situations, you might have rules of thumb e.g. what to have for breakfast, or what to wear to work. So, now tell me, are your rules of thumb working in your favour? What non-negotiables do you have in life? Is the decision you are making benefiting you, your neighbour, your government, or faceless shareholders of companies?

The Spectrum Thinking that you should do for this Maximum Middle where most of your daily decisions are made is a system which is not set up to provide perfectly correct answers to all of life’s trivial and impactful questions. For a start, your prefrontal cortex can only keep track of at most 4 variables at a time. In addition, you are susceptible to all kinds of cognitive biases that can lead to decisions that even you will later realize were illogical or irrational.  Your system of Spectrum Thinking is continuously being attacked by the Unholy Trinity. You might make things worse by having a lifestyle where you are chronically in a state of low underlying stress or having to make decisions when tired or when feeling sad. On top of everything you might place yourself in environments or have events occur around you that create high levels of stress or find yourself in comparison with others. It does not matter what the situation is, you cannot escape the need to develop mastery over your Spectrum Thinking systems.

The Super-Slow End [top]

For the long-term decisions we already know that humans routinely tend to make sub-optimal decisions. We sacrifice internal wealth for external wealth so that we can buy sickcare, not realizing that it does not buy back health, it buys services and products of the sickcare industry. I explained the concept of Time Optimized Living some years ago and most people understand the English words but there is very little action that demonstrates a true understanding of the meaning of the message.

Poor thinking at the strategic level is like rowing for hours in the wrong direction before you realize what a blunder you committed. The need to develop and maintain mastery over your Spectrum Thinking systems is key. Do it before you row into rocks or a stormy sea.

Tracking [top]

You can make progress with your life if you observe it closely and correct your trajectory on a regular basis. The practice of daily journalling allows you to reflect on the big and small decisions, the snap responses, and the carefully thought-out ones. Over time, we hope to all get wiser, but there is no guarantee that we will unless we change our ways for the better. We will not change our ways if we do not observe them. Even though it is never too late to start the practice of maintaining a private and detailed journal about your own life, do not use that as an excuse to procrastinate commencing what is good. If you cannot engage well with the world that is inside you, how will you engage well with the world that is outside you?

Parting Message [top]

The Unholy Trinity and Binary Thinking help you survive life-or-death situations. To thrive in the modern world, you must have mastery over them and over Spectrum Thinking too.

If everything you do is consistent with your core beliefs and desires, then a long and healthy life of joy is pretty much guaranteed to be yours. If you want to be guided in detail, you know how to reach me, and if you found this useful, please do share it with others.

Puru

Dr Purnendu Nath spends his waking hours focusing on helping individuals and organizations reach their goals, to make the world a better place. He speaks, writes and advises on topics such as finance, investment management, discipline, education, self-improvement, exercise, nutrition, health and fitness, leadership and parenting.