On sloppy thinking

I’m always looking for a way to optimize signal versus noise, but if I’m not careful, this can lead to an unintended consequence: sloppy thinking. Sloppy thinking is a form of laziness. It is a catalyst for self-limiting beliefs and missed opportunities. I define sloppy thinking as a reasoning pattern that, while efficient, fails to consider relevant information and context systematically. The results of sloppy thinking can range from minor inconvenience to catastrophe.

I'm sharing some areas in which sloppy thinking has recently bitten me.

Overgeneralization

When we overgeneralize, we draw broader conclusions than we should have. Overgeneralization is based on truth, but how it is applied is inappropriate for its usefulness in describing reality.

I recently talked to a group of programmers at work about some of the quirkier aspects of my favorite programming language, Go. I brought up the surprising behavior of slices and how it is possible to mutate the state inside a slice outside of the scope of what you’d expect in some cases (if you don’t change the length of the slice). My description of why was wrong there. The way I described it was incorrect. I made it sound like a slice was magical, and after someone showed me how it was implemented, I realized my mental model was slightly flawed. It was a bit embarrassing and humbling. It was an important ah-ha moment for me, but it was some sloppy thinking I’d had lying around for far too long. I wasn’t wrong in how it behaved but was incorrect in how I described it.

Jumping to Conclusions

If you overlook important details, you might find an answer quicker, but you also risk missing the broader context of patterns.

I was recently taking an Introduction to Graduate Algorithms exam in the OMSCS program at Georgia Tech. It was our second exam, and I prepared well for the material. The exam consists of two written essays and a multiple-choice section. Fortunately, I was well prepared, and the answers to both essay questions “clicked” almost immediately. After triple-checking my answers, I completed the exam 45 minutes early and felt very proud. I knew I’d made an A.

The following day, reality sunk in. I realized I’d made a fundamental error on my first essay question. While I made a perfect 20/20 on my second essay question, I only scored 5/20 on the first. While I understood the material, I’d solved the problem for a specific case but not the more general one. If I’d only spent a bit more time poking at my assumptions, it would have come to me, and I would have made a perfect or near-perfect score. (Worry not; I’m still doing fine in the class; it’s just embarrassing to miss the mark, especially when my confidence was so high)

To an outside observer, there is no difference between someone who doesn’t understand a concept and someone who uses sloppy thinking to jump to conclusions.

Conclusion

Cutting through minutia to find the essential is critical to clear thinking, but if we aren’t careful, it can lead to sloppy thinking with real negative side effects. It is important to identify when sloppy thinking leads to negative outcomes. We can use these crucial moments to introspect and change our mental models.