How to Be More Effective at Work and Avoid the Ostrich Problem

We’ve all probably heard that ostriches stick their heads in sand when they sense danger. (Obviously, if you ignore something, it goes away, right?)

But this actually a myth—in fact, the propensity to “bury our heads in the sand” in times of trouble or uncertainty is a uniquely human trait.

“The Ostrich Problem,” as coined by English psychologists, is the tendency to avoid really tracking our progress toward a goal. As Christian Jarrett of 99U explains, we’re often afraid that our actual progress won’t be as good as our expectations, so we avoid confronting that reality:

…the avoidance of progress feedback is often motivated by fear—fear that we will be confirming what we suspect: things aren’t going well. If you’re comfortable with your current modus operandi, it can be very tempting to delude yourself that there’s no need to change, and avoiding progress monitoring is one way to do that. Read more…

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