TODAY, OBESITY IS A MAJOR PUBLIC health problem. We eat too much because the pleasure centers in our brain become addicted to particular tastes or flavorslike sugar, salt, and fat. Your preferred flavors trigger your pleasure centers and then suddenly you’re 30 pounds heavier than you should be.

You can explain a lot about your behavior just by understanding your pleasure centers. You prefer to make decisions and behave in ways that trigger your pleasure centers. I call these decision flavors—and they have a mind of their own.

Your comfort zone comprises the decision flavors you resort to habitually since they trigger your pleasure centers. In a sense, your decision flavors represent an addiction. You operate in your comfort zone
by acting in a certain style and making certain decisions.

You tend to be more effective when you are aware of your decision flavor preferences (addictions). For example, you may be addicted to emotional decisions, analytical decisions, fast decisions, slow decisions,
technically-driven decisions, or moneydriven decisions. The problem is not that you make decisions based on these factors—it’s when you are so driven by one decision flavor and use it for all your decisions, even when the decision flavor is inappropriate for the circumstance. Your portfolio of decision flavors should be well balanced, not a monotype, so you can decide using the most appropriate flavor.

Your brain spends most of its time doing things you know little or nothing about— some of it against your best interests. To progress, you need to become more selfaware because your innate behavioral drivers determine whether you’ll be wealthy or not—whether you exert a positive impact on financial outcomes.

Most people (88 percent) don’t naturally make money, and the 12 percent who do often become addicted to cash generation; and, like all addictions, this sometimes ends badly. You’re unaware of the cognitive biases
that drive your financial outcomes. You tend to stick with behavioral comfort zones (addictions) that lead you to do things that are inappropriate to your circumstances. For example, you might use too many resources to accomplish certain objectives. If you are unaware of your biases and their impacts, you can’t do anything about addressing and correcting them.

Since cognitive biases are leading indicators of financial outcomes, being aware of them is key, particularly if, for example, you want to ensure that your stock investments pay off. Once you identify your cognitive biases, behavioral addictions and decision flavors, you can do something about them to create wealth for yourself. So, identify your decision flavor addictions and then focus on managing them to create wealth.