Strive for consistency, not intelligence while making decisions.

Stupidity is overlooking conspicuously crucial information. We’re often occupied trying to look intelligent. But most successful people prioritize avoiding foolish mistakes over seeking brilliance. Amateurs triumph by capitalizing on their opponent’s errors, while experts win games by scoring points.

The problem is most of us behave as though we’re experts, despite being amateurs. This presents a challenge, as we’re often competing with professionals. As amateurs, in the long term rather than striving for wins, we could benefit more by inverting the problem and focusing on avoiding losses. 

In the words of Charlie Munger, the billionaire business partner of Warren Buffett :

“It is remarkable how much long-term advantage people like us have gotten by trying to be consistently not stupid, instead of trying to be very intelligent. There must be some wisdom in the folk saying, `It’s the strong swimmers who drown.’ “

There are numerous causes of falling prey to stupud mistakes including:

1. Unintentional foolishness, often due to cognitive biases and environmental factors such as fatigue, distraction, and group influence.
2. Lack of accurate information, making decisions with incomplete facts or wrong assumptions is likely to lead to disaster.
3. Using faulty mental models. We use a variety of mental models while making decisions. The key is to use the right ones applicable on a given situation. 
4. Failure to learn from past experiences. Pretty self explanatory. 
5. Prioritizing perception over substance. Unconsciously we make a lot of our choices based on optics and politics trying to look good instead of actually being good or doing good. 

However, it is possible to minimize the risk of making stupid mistakes by addressing the above factors. Take the time to think. Thinking takes time.