Concepts for failure risk & wrong decisions: the illusion of control

Experience means experiencing successes and failures. Some fail, others become one Success. But what is the cause of success or failure?

Too many cooks spoil the broth

Some projects fail or are completed more poorly than well. Others develop excellently and become the basis for more profitable ones Shops. But what is the cause of success or failure?

An honest answer would be that a large number of factors always have an influence. Even in projects that are managed by one person, other people and the environment have a huge impact on the outcome.

The illusion of control

The books on the subject (advertising)

Software developers resort to the Solutions and ideas back from other developers, business consultants rely on the assistance and cooperation of the customers reliant, Seller are depending on the product, Customer and competitive situation successful.

Although we have only limited influence on success or failure, we are often subject to an illusion of control. That is, we believe that we are the ones who determine the outcome decisively. And the longer we are successful, the more the impression is strengthened.

When illusion increases the motivation

What does such an illusion of control lead to? On the one hand, it causes us to make an effort to improve our Set to reach. It increases ours Motivation and our stamina. So this consequence is positive.

On the other hand, the illusion of control leads to the probability of success being overstepped and important influencing factors not sufficiently taken into account. This can have negative consequences.

Everything depends on us?

Discounts for your success (advertising)!

Take a salesman who believes everything depends on him. If the market becomes more difficult, for example because the competition is offering more attractive products, such a salesperson can Turnover reduce, for example, the influence of peer-to-peer Communication, social networks or underestimated banal things like the service around the product.

instead of the positive Effect using other factors to his advantage, he only tries to score through his own effort.

Successes are homemade?

Actually, experience should teach us how big our influence on success and failure really is. Sadly, this is not the case. We tend to attribute successes to ourselves personally. We believe that success comes from our Backgroundours Expertise and our effort has come about. That is why we can be proud of what we have achieved.

On the other hand, we like to attribute failures to other or adverse circumstances. In this case, we are happy to hand over control and thus responsibility. This has the psychological positive consequence that we feel less guilty feel must and our competence is not questioned. Because the number of achievements mostly clear greater than the failures, we can continue to believe in our success check to be able to.

Do not waste your resources meaninglessly

So should we try to assess our impact on success and failure? Since the illusion of the control also has positive consequences for the motivation, there is no objection to a slight overestimation.

It becomes critical, however, when we use our Energy and uselessly waste our resources. Many dice players lose theirs Money, because they think they can control the dice. In contrast, poker players are often successful because they are aware of their impact on the outcome of the game.

What does successful implementation involve?

Many believe that more experience will provide more knowledge and competence. That's not necessarily the case.

If a person always uses the same knowledge and routines, then the person only becomes more experienced but not an expert. Consultants who only ever do the same kind of things Projects implement, become better in the Implementation, but not necessarily more competent. To become an expert, you have to do exactly two things:

1. various things to try out and
2. from the results.

Inherent competence

Take such a trivial example as the use of Office packages. Most users are very familiar with the programs and can use theirs Tasks fast and edit with good results. Does that mean these users are experts? Not at all.

Most users only know a few Features and don't know how to do their duties on other things ways could solve with sometimes significantly higher efficiency. Because the usual procedure works well enough, nothing new is tried and nothing new is learned.

The supposedly positive feedback such people receive misleads them. they think competently being and being in control. The experience of “doing so well” creates an illusion of control, an overestimation of one's abilities, and can contribute to disproportionate self-confidence.

Explore new possibilities systematically

In contrast, experts are constantly learning by systematically testing new possibilities and learning about the results, successes and failures. These feedbacks show which approaches are successful and which are not.

They also allow you to see which other factors are also crucial for success. Take outstanding musicians, for example. These not only have a very long Vocational Training behind them, in which they mostly specifically sought critical feedback from other outstanding musicians.

To expose oneself to the possibility of failure

On the contrary, they constantly try out new possibilities. They experiment with how they could interpret a piece differently and perhaps even better or more interesting. The fact that they are masters of their subject does not mean to put on the tried and tested.

Because they are always exposed to the possibility of failure, they learn what makes them successful and where their limits lie. This reduces the risk of over-estimating one's abilities and an illusion of control.

Top books on the subject

Read text as PDF

Acquire this text as a PDF (only for own use without passing it on according to Terms and conditions): Please send us one after purchase eMail with the desired title supportberufebilder.de, we will then send the PDF to you immediately. You can also purchase text series.

4,99€Buy

Advice on success, goal achievement or marketing

You have Ask round to Career, Recruiting, personal development or increasing reach? Our AI consultant will help you for 5 euros a month – free for book buyers. We offer special ones for other topics IT services

5,00€ / per month   Book

Book eCourse on Demand

Up to 30 lessons with 4 learning tasks each + final lesson as a PDF download. Please send us one after purchase eMail with the desired title supportberufebilder.de. Alternatively, we would be happy to put your course together for you or offer you a personal, regular one eMail-Course - all further information!

29,99€Buy

Skate eBook as desired

If our store does not offer you your desired topic: We will be happy to put together a book according to your wishes and deliver it in a format of yours Choice. Please sign us after purchase supportberufebilder.de

79,99€Buy