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Why Smart People Make Terrible Decisions
Why do smart people give great advice to everyone else, but make terrible decisions when the problem is their own?
In this episode of Mindset Medicine, Katharine Loucaidou explores Solomon’s Paradox — the idea that we often reason more wisely about other people’s problems than our own.
Through the stories of Steve Jobs, King Solomon, emotional decision-making, and personal reinvention, this episode looks at why intelligence, age, success, and experience do not always protect us from poor judgment when emotions take over.
You’ll learn three practical tools for making better decisions:
The pre-mortem — how to imagine a decision going wrong before you commit.
The outside view — how to look at patterns, evidence, and outcomes instead of staying trapped inside your own emotional version of the story.
The friend test — how to give yourself the same clear advice you would give someone else.
If you are facing a difficult decision in your life, business, career, health, or next chapter, this conversation will help you step back, think more clearly, and see what you may be too close to notice.
Subscribe to Mindset Medicine for more episodes on mindset, decision-making, reinvention, resilience, business, and human intelligence in a changing world.
CHAPTERS:
00:00 The decision Steve Jobs got wrong
03:00 Why we give better advice to other people
07:46 The story of King Solomon
10:21 What Solomon’s Paradox means
13:34 Why smart people still make terrible decisions
21:30 Does age actually make us wiser?
24:38 Tool 1: The pre-mortem
30:35 Tool 2: The outside view
36:31 Tool 3: The friend test
39:24 How to step outside your own problem
ABOUT MINDSET MEDICINE:
Mindset Medicine is hosted by Katharine Loucaidou, a mindset, performance, and business coach helping people think differently, make stronger decisions, and navigate life and business with more clarity.If this episode helped you, subscribe to Mindset Medicine and share it with someone who is trying to make an important decision right now.
Learn more about Katharine's Coaching Intensive:
https://katharineloucaidoucoaching.com/the-lens/
→ Book a Business Strategy Clarity Call: https://calendly.com/katharineloucaidou/business_clarity_discovery_call
Katharine's Book 📕 Link:
https://amzn.to/4tFG078
→ Join Katharine's FREE AI community: https://www.skool.com/ai-can-do-what
QUESTION FOR YOU:
What is one decision you are too close to right now?
View all episodes
By Katharine Loucaidou
5
66 ratings
Why do smart people give great advice to everyone else, but make terrible decisions when the problem is their own?
In this episode of Mindset Medicine, Katharine Loucaidou explores Solomon’s Paradox — the idea that we often reason more wisely about other people’s problems than our own.
Through the stories of Steve Jobs, King Solomon, emotional decision-making, and personal reinvention, this episode looks at why intelligence, age, success, and experience do not always protect us from poor judgment when emotions take over.
You’ll learn three practical tools for making better decisions:
The pre-mortem — how to imagine a decision going wrong before you commit.
The outside view — how to look at patterns, evidence, and outcomes instead of staying trapped inside your own emotional version of the story.
The friend test — how to give yourself the same clear advice you would give someone else.
If you are facing a difficult decision in your life, business, career, health, or next chapter, this conversation will help you step back, think more clearly, and see what you may be too close to notice.
Subscribe to Mindset Medicine for more episodes on mindset, decision-making, reinvention, resilience, business, and human intelligence in a changing world.
CHAPTERS:
00:00 The decision Steve Jobs got wrong
03:00 Why we give better advice to other people
07:46 The story of King Solomon
10:21 What Solomon’s Paradox means
13:34 Why smart people still make terrible decisions
21:30 Does age actually make us wiser?
24:38 Tool 1: The pre-mortem
30:35 Tool 2: The outside view
36:31 Tool 3: The friend test
39:24 How to step outside your own problem
ABOUT MINDSET MEDICINE:
Mindset Medicine is hosted by Katharine Loucaidou, a mindset, performance, and business coach helping people think differently, make stronger decisions, and navigate life and business with more clarity.If this episode helped you, subscribe to Mindset Medicine and share it with someone who is trying to make an important decision right now.
Learn more about Katharine's Coaching Intensive:
https://katharineloucaidoucoaching.com/the-lens/
→ Book a Business Strategy Clarity Call: https://calendly.com/katharineloucaidou/business_clarity_discovery_call
Katharine's Book 📕 Link:
https://amzn.to/4tFG078
→ Join Katharine's FREE AI community: https://www.skool.com/ai-can-do-what
QUESTION FOR YOU:
What is one decision you are too close to right now?