Reactions to Blink

I just finished reading Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking.

I am left with that feeling that as much as I strain to grasp the whole idea in all its complexities, it continues to spill over and slip through my fingers, leaving only puddles, portions of the author’s work within reach at any given time.

Maybe if I write it down, I’ll be able to gather it all in one place and feel like I have a better handle on Gladwell’s ideas:

1) When it comes to complex decisions, the snap judgments we make can be more effective than deliberated and analyzed decisions because they quickly pull out key factors instead of becoming overwhelmed by irrelevant ones.

2) Conversely, our intuition can be grossly mistaken or cut short when it is overwhelmed by irrelevant factors or biases. Lack of time, panic, and lack of experience contribute to the likelihood of this happening.

I guess the conclusion would be trust my intuition more, to stay wary of becoming overwhelmed by too much information, but at the same time to realize my intuition is fallible, to continually seek to be self-aware, to train my mind to focus on the right factors in decisions, and through it all to pray that God works through the fascinatingly brilliant minds he has given each of us, whether I am conscious or unconscious of it’s workings.

I feel like I still didn’t do Gladwell’s thoughts justice.

I am also left with the maddening lack of something tangible to take away from it. I wanted to walk away with a formula for decision-making, but instead I have paradoxical feelings of liberation to trust gut reactions and simultaneous confusion and fear about the incredibly complexities both of the decision process and of the inner workings of our minds.