The CIA method for making quick decisions under stress | Andrew Bustamante

Summary

In this video, Andrew Bustamante reveals the CIA methods for making quick decisions under pressure. The essence lies in prioritizing tasks efficiently and avoiding task saturation by focusing on the next fastest thing you can accomplish. This strategy not only enhances productivity but also helps in maintaining a positive mindset. When overwhelmed, accept your limits, prioritize tasks, and take actions that move things forward, step by step. This approach, proven effective in high-stakes CIA operations, can be applied to everyday life to manage stress and improve efficiency.

Highlights

• The CIA method limits the number of simultaneous tasks for better effectiveness. 🔍
• Focus on doing the next fastest task during moments of task saturation. 🚀
• Building momentum with small tasks can lead to increased confidence and productivity. 💪
• Task management strategies used in high-stress CIA operations can apply to daily life. 🌍
• Avoiding 'head trash' helps maintain rational thought and effectiveness. 🧠

Key Takeaways

• Time is your most valuable asset; manage it wisely by not overloading tasks. ⏰
• Task saturation leads to stress and decreased productivity; aim to avoid it. 🙅‍♂️
• Prioritize tasks by identifying what can be completed in the shortest amount of time. 🕒
• Practice operational prioritization regularly to make it a habit and boost productivity. 🔄
• Avoid negative self-talk or 'head trash' when overwhelmed; focus on simple, actionable steps. 🤯

Overview

Andrew Bustamante, a former CIA officer, shares insights on efficient decision-making, crucial for managing stress and enhancing productivity. The key lies in understanding time as a precious resource that cannot be replenished, unlike energy and money. By accepting time's limitations, you can better focus on prioritizing tasks.

The strategy involves recognizing when you're overwhelmed, labeled as task saturation, and then employing a simple rule: consider all the tasks you can handle simultaneously, and subtract two. This reduces overwhelm and maximizes resource allocation for each task, ensuring effectiveness and reducing negative stress.

When faced with unexpected challenges, both personally and professionally, tackling the smallest, quickest task first creates a powerful momentum. This method, used in high-stakes operations, encourages confidence and capability, reminding us that maintaining a positive mindset is pivotal for overcoming challenges and ensuring survival, whether in everyday life or in formidable CIA scenarios.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 00:30: Introduction to CIA's perspective on resources and time management The CIA emphasizes the importance of understanding three key resources: energy, time, and money. While energy and money can be generated, time is finite and constantly diminishing. This understanding creates pressure but highlights the critical value of time management.
• 00:30 - 01:00: Multitasking in daily life and the concept of task saturation The chapter discusses the concept of multitasking in daily life and introduces the idea of task saturation. It highlights how people make over 1,600 decisions daily, balancing various responsibilities such as parenting, household chores, and personal relationships. The overwhelming nature of these daily tasks underscores the necessity and challenge of effective multitasking.
• 01:00 - 02:00: Managing task saturation: CIA's simple rule of reducing tasks The chapter discusses the concept of task saturation, a condition where an individual has more tasks than they can comfortably handle, leading to decreased cognitive ability, increased stress and anxiety, and an overall feeling of unproductive success. It highlights the importance of recognizing and managing task saturation, especially for those working in high-pressure environments like the CIA.
• 02:00 - 02:30: Effects of reducing tasks: Increased productivity and positive mindset The chapter discusses the benefits of reducing the number of tasks to avoid task saturation. At the CIA, a rule of thumb is applied where you subtract two from the number of tasks you believe you can handle simultaneously. This principle is believed to increase productivity and foster a positive mindset. For example, if you think you can handle seven tasks, you should only do five; if three, then just one.
• 02:30 - 03:30: Impact of task saturation: Negative mindset and productivity challenges Task saturation can negatively affect productivity and mindset.
• 03:30 - 04:30: Operational prioritization: Using time as an asset in task management This chapter discusses the negative impacts of task saturation, which can lead to feelings of being overwhelmed and unproductive. It emphasizes the importance of acknowledging when you are task-saturated in order to begin addressing and reversing this state. This acknowledgment is the initial step towards managing your tasks effectively.
• 04:30 - 07:00: Real-life application: Decision-making under high-pressure situations The chapter titled 'Real-life application: Decision-making under high-pressure situations' discusses the concept of operational prioritization at the CIA. It emphasizes accepting that not all tasks can be completed, and the importance of prioritizing tasks in a specific way to successfully carry out operations. Time is highlighted as a crucial asset that is constant and non-negotiable.
• 07:00 - 09:30: Emotional challenges and overcoming negative thinking (head trash) The chapter titled 'Emotional challenges and overcoming negative thinking (head trash)' discusses techniques for prioritizing tasks effectively, especially in challenging emotional states. It emphasizes the importance of asking yourself, "What is the next task that I can carry out in the shortest amount of time?" despite the simplicity of this approach, it's highlighted as reliable. This method helps in organizing tasks when overwhelmed by negative emotions or 'head trash.'
• 09:30 - 10:30: Biological survival instincts and their impact on modern life This chapter explores the role of biological survival instincts in contemporary settings. It delves into how these instincts influence task prioritization and productivity. By understanding these instincts, individuals can manage tasks more efficiently, gain momentum, and enhance their confidence. This concept is illustrated through a hypothetical scenario of meeting a terrorist asset in various foreign fields, highlighting survival instincts in action.
• 10:30 - 13:00: Simplest solutions in overcoming task saturation The chapter discusses the concept of task saturation, particularly in high-pressure situations such as meeting a potentially dangerous individual. It emphasizes the importance of focusing on the simplest next step, like initiating a conversation with a greeting, despite the overwhelming circumstances.
• 13:00 - 15:00: Challenge: Practicing operational prioritization in everyday life The chapter titled 'Challenge: Practicing operational prioritization in everyday life' discusses a hypothetical scenario involving a meeting with a terrorist asset. It begins by underscoring the importance of making quick, prioritizing decisions even in basic, everyday situations. The chapter then poses an intense scenario where the worst-case situation occurs: a terrorist suddenly pulls out guns, forcing a rapid transition into defensive or survival modes. The underlying lesson is about being prepared to instantly shift priorities and strategies when facing unexpected threats.
• 15:00 - 15:30: Call to Action: Support the channel The chapter discusses the immediate response actions to take when in a situation of danger or task saturation. It emphasizes the importance of prioritizing personal safety first by taking cover. It contemplates various options but reinforces the trained response to protect oneself as the primary step.

The CIA method for making quick decisions under stress | Andrew Bustamante Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 - CIA teaches us that there's only three resources that matter in life. There's energy, time, and money. You can always create more energy, and you can always create more money, but you cannot create more time. So you are literally always working against a clock, a clock that is ticking, a clock that is counting down, a clock that is rolling forward and you really start to feel the pressure of time. Instead, what you need to understand is the very same time that's making you anxious
• 00:30 - 01:00 is actually your most valuable asset. [Narrator] How to multitask like a spy. Current research shows that the average person has to make more than 1,600 decisions a day. They have to decide when to pick up the kids, what to feed them for dinner, what to say to their spouse, when to call their mom. They're keeping track of when the next time is to put out the trash and they're keeping track of when the next time is to mow the lawn. There are an overwhelming amount of tasks that you have to carry out every single day,
• 01:00 - 01:30 and the same thing happens to us when we are operating in the foreign field. It's something that we call task saturation. When there's more tasks that need to be done, then you feel comfortable carrying out with any sort of effective capacity. And task saturation is a very dangerous thing because it can result in decreased cognitive ability, increased stress, increased anxiety, and an overall sense of unproductive success. You can learn to identify and manage
• 01:30 - 02:00 your own threshold for tasks so that you never enter a position of task saturation. We have a very simple rule of thumb at CIA that says that however many tasks you think you can confidently carry out simultaneously, subtract two. So if you think you can do seven tasks simultaneously, just do five. If you think you can only do three tasks simultaneously, cut down by two, so you just do one. What happens when you take this simple rule of thumb
• 02:00 - 02:30 and you reduce the number of tasks that you're trying to accomplish by two, you are essentially increasing your resources for fewer tasks, which increases your productivity with each of those tasks. And as you become more productive, you gain momentum with the other tasks. And above all, you have this very positive mindset and this very positive attitude that allows you to continue being productive. In contrast, when you allow yourself to reach a place of task saturation,
• 02:30 - 03:00 the opposite effect happens. You start to feel like you're not being productive, you start to feel like you're overwhelmed, and you develop a negative mindset that actually starts to create more problems that keep you from being productive. Once you are task saturated, you have to start working to resolve or reverse your level of task saturation. The first step is one where you have to accept that you are actively in a position of task saturation, which means you will not accomplish
• 03:00 - 03:30 all of the tasks that you're trying to carry out. Once you accept that you will not be able to do all the tasks you're trying to do, the next step is to prioritize the remaining tasks that you have. At CIA, we call this operational prioritization, which means that to continue the operation and to achieve success, we must prioritize in a very specific way. This is where time becomes your most valuable asset and your best friend because time is something that you can't argue with, time is something that you can't debate.
• 03:30 - 04:00 So when the time comes that you need to operationally prioritize your tasks, you want to use time to help you put those tasks in order. So you ask yourself the question, "What is the next task that I can carry out in the shortest amount of time?" Yes, I know it sounds simple and it sounds basic, and it may even sound silly or stupid to you, but it's the very fact that that question is so elementary in nature that makes it so reliable when your whole body is working against you
• 04:00 - 04:30 because you can't deny the simple truth that some tasks can be done faster than others. And as you start to complete tasks in that lens of operational prioritization, you start to gain momentum, you start to reduce your total number of tasks, and you start to gain back confidence as you get back to the place where you are able to manage the remaining tasks that you have. Imagine that you and I are meeting with a terrorist asset in the foreign field. Maybe that's somewhere in the Middle East, maybe that's somewhere in southeast Asia,
• 04:30 - 05:00 and we don't know that we can trust this person. Maybe they are carrying a bomb strapped to their chest, maybe they're carrying a gun, maybe they have a group of people that are waiting just outside the door to attack us as soon as we sit down. But the secrets that this person has are so valuable that it's worth the risk of trying to have the conversation. We are gonna go into that meeting and right away we will be task saturated. But you have to focus on the next simplest task, which really is just saying hello to this terrorist target.
• 05:00 - 05:30 That is a simple, stupid, basic thing, but it is something that only takes a few seconds before you start making progress. Now imagine in this situation when we sit down to meet with this terrorist asset that the worst really does happen and that this terrorist stands up and pulls guns out of his pockets and points these guns at you and me, and we have to immediately flip ourselves into some kind of defensive or survival mode.
• 05:30 - 06:00 Again, you realize that we will be in an immediate position of task saturation. What do we do next? Here's a person in the room with us actively trying to do us harm. Do we help each other? Do we help ourselves? Do we scream for help? Do we make a phone call? Do we try to radio in the military to save us? The answer is you have to do the next fastest thing. We are trained in that situation that the first thing you have to do is protect yourself. So you take cover,
• 06:00 - 06:30 you hide behind a piece of furniture, or you fall on the floor and you hide behind a large chair or a desk or a table. You try to do something to keep yourself safe. It's fast, it does not take a lot of time, but it gives you the space and the momentum that you need to make the next decision. So from your position of cover, now you know you have one less task. You are now physically protected from the person with a gun. But what do you do next? The answer is you have to assess the room
• 06:30 - 07:00 to decide what your next step will be. So you use your ears, you use your eyes, you use your mouth to speak out and find out whether or not the other person that you're in the room with is safe, whether they're protected, whether or not you know where the shooter is, whether or not you're counting how many times they fired their gun. You're making all of these decisions in real time, choosing the next fastest decision because that's what will keep you alive. You're not trying to do the next most complicated decision. You're not trying to solve all the problems at one time.
• 07:00 - 07:30 You're not trying to play a hero. You are literally just trying to make the next fastest decision that you need so that you can have one less decision to make so that you can be one step closer to survival. We don't often deal with life and death situations in the real world. We don't have to worry about whether or not someone's strapping a bomb to their chest or whether they're coming in to try to hurt us, but we do have to deal with surprises and unexpected events all the time. Surprises from our children at school, surprises from our bosses at work,
• 07:30 - 08:00 surprises from our spouse at bedtime. We never know when the next surprise will happen, but no matter when you find that surprise present itself, no matter when you find yourself in that moment of task saturation, your path to survival is literally as simple as doing the next fastest thing. Because as you accomplish those tasks, you will build momentum, you will build confidence, you will build a sense of productive activity that gets you back to the place
• 08:00 - 08:30 where you feel confident with the level of tasks that you have left, and you will overcome that feeling of task saturation. One of the biggest challenges we face when we find ourselves in a moment of task saturation is that emotionally we start to say very negative things to ourselves in our own head because we have given up on rational thought, so now our brain has all this extra capacity to start using emotional thoughts. So instead of trying to focus on a productive outcome,
• 08:30 - 09:00 our brain starts to self-criticize. We actually start telling ourselves, "Oh, I should have never done this thing in the past," or, "I'll never do that thing again." You start to have all these negative thoughts that pile on with the brain's additional capacity by letting go of rational thought. This is something we call head trash. It's all the junk that comes into your mind where you start to self-criticize and self-demean and self-ridicule because your brain has this additional capacity that it's not using on rational thoughts. Head trash and negative thinking can become a real problem
• 09:00 - 09:30 because it actually convinces you to stop trying. It convinces you to give up. It convinces you that you are not capable of things that you actually are capable of doing because as soon as you start to think you can't do something that you actually have the capacity to accomplish, you end up right back in that very same place of sense making where you try to avoid and escape instead of face a problem head on and accomplish what you know you can accomplish when you have rational thought.
• 09:30 - 10:00 We are literally wired to doubt everything around us because that's how we survive. But we live in a world where we're trying to thrive and lean into and sometimes even trust the world around us, but we have not evolved biologically to the place where we can do that yet. Overcoming task saturation through the simple process of being able to do the next fastest task kept us alive when we were living in caves and running from predators.
• 10:00 - 10:30 It will also keep us alive and help us to thrive in today's modern world because at the end of the day, we still view the world around us as something that is either a threat or not a threat. Sometimes your children coming home and throwing a fit is a threat. It's a threat to your sleep. It's a threat to your stress. Sometimes the boss calling you at 8 o'clock at night is a threat. It's a threat to your worry. It's a threat to your career. It's a threat to your job prospects. Sometimes when you get a bill in the mail, it's a threat,
• 10:30 - 11:00 and we constantly find ourselves living in a world surrounded by threats that make us feel overwhelmed, just like we did when we were living in a cave and we were threatened by all the predators that surrounded us. We have to understand that the simplest solution is oftentimes the best solution, and that has proven true for us countless times, and that will prove true for you with operational prioritization. So here's my challenge to you. You will feel overwhelmed tomorrow and the day after and multiple times this week.
• 11:00 - 11:30 Task saturation is virtually guaranteed if you're in any kind of professional workplace environment because the demands are always going to outweigh your confidence in carrying out certain tasks. So when you identify that moment where you are carrying more tasks than you have confidence that you can execute, try to do the next simplest thing. Maybe that means you have to stop to make yourself lunch. Maybe that means you have to stop to pour a new cup of coffee.
• 11:30 - 12:00 Maybe that means you just need to sit and take a few deep breaths for yourself, but you will find that if you accomplish that simplest task first, you will find motivation, energy, momentum, and positive thinking that allows you to continue moving forward. When you practice operational prioritization just one time, you will immediately feel the benefits, but that won't make it a habit, that won't make it a reliable tool in your tool belt. You have to drill this, you have to practice it over and over again. You have to practice it at home, you have to practice it at work.
• 12:00 - 12:30 You have to make it part of your routine that every time you reach that point of task saturation, you will literally stop and do the next simplest thing. And when you see the benefits of that over and over and over again, you will be behaving like a trained operator, like the best in the world who can travel anywhere to accomplish the impossible. - [Narrator] Wanna support the channel? Join the Big Think Members Community where you get access to videos early, ad-free.