Following the aftermath of the coronavirus crisis, we will be walking on uncharted territories for the next few years. Ready to reform how you make decisions?

What’s the future of (my) work? Which businesses and sectors should we invest in? Which education and career moves should we bet on? For quite a while now, we’ve all been facing tough life changing questions that have been coming up more regularly than we would like. And we’d better get used to it. Here are some tips and things to consider when navigating this new way of life.

In Times of Uncertainty, Follow Your principles

What’s right, what’s wrong? Is this true? Is this helpful? Doing something good with honorable intentions is what you should be doing in general. In times of crisis, it is often the case that an  advantage reveals itself. It limits your risks, in both the present and future. Take any reprehensible behavior – it has an expected benefit, which is to be balanced with a potential cost. When the world shifts dramatically, it is much harder to calculate the short and long term risks of unethical or illegal actions. Therefore, unless you are a sinner by vocation, you should not insult the future. Don’t act funny when times are serious.

Can’t I Just Ask Google, or Do I Follow My Guts?

Nope. Don’t count on an AI program to tell you what to do during a crisis. AI relies heavily on past data, which tells you what you could have done yesterday if today hadn’t changed the whole equation. Data analytical tools can give you a live picture of what’s happening right now, which is good for immediate tactical decision-making. But the nature of a crisis makes data and AI a bit off when it comes to reading a fast-changing model. And particularly of no use when it comes to understanding the human phenomenons at play. Remember, AI still cannot distinguish a cause from a consequence. Seriously, AI, where’s your head at?

Don’t trust your instincts too much either. In difficult times, our senses and emotions are subject to all sorts of cognitive biases such as pressure, fear and irrational thoughts. If you just follow your guts, your neurotic impulses might send you toward a very dark place. Remember the last time you bought a marathon length in toilet paper and an axe? Yet, your intuition, which is a more elaborate form of instinct,can be useful during a crisis. You can use your intuitions as a lighthouse.

Don’t Go Against Your Intuition

Let’s start by quickly labeling your intuition as your instinct’s better half. Those that aren’t busy trailing the scent of some edibles, college pheromones, or a childhood trauma. When everything moves around us, our intuition can be a powerful tool. They have their own logic – just a fuzzy, deeper, unconscious one. You can see intuition as the skill to factor in so many parameters, for which the outcome cannot be verbally articulated. Just vaguely felt. Distorted and biased as they are, our intuition is a form of thinking that is well in line with the nature of a global crisis: messy, contradictory, holistic. When your world turns upside down, you can’t catch a wave with a compass. Your intuition can help you sense if you’re going against the river flow.

What to Do When Intuitions and Principles Contradict ?

Well, there you have it :

Your principles and intuition can sometimes take off in mixed directions during a time of crisis. It can be confusing to decide which to follow, but I recommend that you always trust your intuition. Even if it seems like it’s for a good cause, with good reasons. When your intuition sends you a warning, don’t ignore it; there might be something that you don’t know, just not consciously anyway. Spend your time and energy on what’s good and what feels right. What about the other way around, when something goes against your principles but seems nevertheless like the right thing to do? Sin responsibly, meaning only if you have to.

Conclusion?

During a crisis, you can’t properly estimate risks. So there isn’t really a case for trading them for a potential profit, even a substantial one. However, there is a case for trading future risks against immediate losses. When the sirens are on, and the safety nets off, a large blow to your finances, your health or your relationships can easily spiral into further unforeseeable hits, which can eventually take your fate out of your hands. You must be ready to take great measures to forbid this. If that means trading the threat for an unknown risk  that can be dealt with at a later  time, then do it. Even if it goes against your principles. Don’t act funny when times are serious, unless you face immediate consequences.

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Written by Nicolas Morel
Main photo by Edwin Hooper.
Second photo by Joshua Reddekopp.