Decision-making processes are complex. Throughout our professional life, one runs into a multitude of people, we face various projects and almost automatically we start classifying them. Doubt ignites and we wonder if all that shines is gold, if what they are proposing to us is as good as it seems, if the person in front of us is all that it claims to be. Only the naïve are spared these approaches. The brain begins a rapid activity, like that of a telephone switchboard, our mind acts like an archivist. We open and close drawers, to distinguish the wise, the prudent, the risky, the convenient, the viable, the unpleasant, the inevitable and from them we make decisions. It is the first impressions that guide us in this qualifying impulse, sometimes everything is very clear, there are no doubts, others we hesitate. We do that. It's funny, many people who present themselves as ultra-smart or projects that sell us as the last wonder of the century can be classified in the wrong drawer. How do we know if they are selling us mirages?

The quick answer is to look at livelihoods and value. Analysis is always a good option. The truth is, it's not always that simple. Nothing worthwhile is easy. There are many people who act with immeasurable pedantry and, despite having zero achievements to support themselves, they go with life with their ego inflated despite the fact that the evidence shows us that they are neither intelligent nor have the attribute of sympathy. Then, doubt springs up. We can face an offer that sells like a wonder and that is the window of opportunity that we should take advantage of and doubt. We hear characters who love to hate and there are those who use beautiful words that can dazzle us. The popular saying warns us that there is much ado about nothing. Beware of people who find reasons to believe that the world is wrong and they are right, with those who talk for the sake of talking and offer alternatives that will make us millionaires with the effort of a blink. The funny thing is that they believe them. What is surprising is the ability they have to convince. It seems that we are living in the age of the unwary.

One of the big problems we have today is the immediacy with which we believe things. We swallowed the pill without much questioning. We consume because we can, because we have it at our fingertips. We embarked without realizing it and then forgot what the reasons were that led us to get hooked on something. In such an accelerated society, in which we do not give ourselves a time of analysis and move from one news to another, from one screen to the one that follows, from one product to the other, from one plan to the next, there is a great risk of falling into a mistake. Highly efficient people, those who truly are, projects that have a chance of success take care of mirage sellers and avoid making the following mistakes.

  1. Over-catalyzing. A truly intelligent person takes a prudent time and mourns decides, instead of circling ideas, tests them, questions them and tries to find answers. If we think about it carefully, someone who starts theorizing about situations without asking the right questions, in addition to wasting time, is postponing a possible solution.
  2. Be arrogant. An arrogant person is someone who has an overly inflated ego and that is a sign contrary to intelligence. People who are humble enough to recognize that you can't know everything and act in the opposite direction: they make a list of everything they don't know and recognize that the answers to their questions are not in the back of their head, so they investigate, they hire experts, they approach consultants.
  3. Procrastinate. A high-performance professional takes immediate action, they concentrate on what they can do directly and delegate what they neither know how to do nor arouse interest. They destroy the myth that we must first do what gives us laziness and then concentrate on what we like. Instead of wasting time and energy, they focus on what they can do best and choose the projects they are most passionate about. The rest is passed on to expert hands that can be resolved in the best way.
  4. Act on impulses. Intuition must be heard, it is true, and there will be times when we have to follow our hunches. Of course, as long as they understand what they are doing, as long as in addition to guts, the idea is mixed with some brain. Intelligence is more than occurrences.
  5. Talk more than you hear. Truly intelligent people know how to appreciate the value of a good conversation; therefore, they know how to master the urge to speak and speak. A conversation is a source of wealth that many waste by being talked about and talked about.

I have never believed in magic formulas to discover the black thread, those are bluster. But, I do believe that there are clues that we can identify to realize if they are selling us mirages or not. There are many sellers of pink airs, it is better to be attentive and turn them around.