Fast and slow thinking: Starting your working day

Think about how your working day usually begins. 

If you are heading to the office, you will probably take your usual route without thinking about each turn. Now imagine your usual way is blocked. Suddenly the same journey takes effort: you check the map, compare alternatives, and pay attention to every junction. 

Similarly, if you are working remotely, you would typically start by opening the same apps and checking the same tabs almost without noticing. Imagine now how this process changes when a software update moves everything around, and each click needs a moment's thought. 

Same journey, same routine, two very different ways of getting through it. Happily, on most mornings, things work smoothly, which is just as well: if every turn and every click needed careful thought, we might end up exhausted before the workday had properly begun.  

Much of our everyday thinking relies on fast, automatic processes shaped by patterns, context, and shortcuts. Other moments call for slower, more effortful thinking. 

Behavioural scientists often describe this through two modes of thinking: System 1 and System 2. Dr. Umar Taj breaks down what these are in UNSSC’s free webinar series, From Challenge to Action: Practical Webinars for UN Leaders. 

Of course, human thinking is more complex than two neat categories, but the distinction helps explain something we experience every day: not everything we do involves the same level of conscious thought. 

What we do can also be shaped by habits, social cues, what stands out and how easy or difficult something feels. 

Why does this matter in the UN? 

Behavioural science helps us design around how people actually behave, not how we assume they should. 

When we design a policy, programme or process, we can be tempted to imagine that people will behave like our idealized morning self: taking in all the information, weighing every option and making the best choice.

But people do not always stop to consider every option. 

Like the rest of us, they are influenced by what feels familiar, what stands out, what others around them are doing, and how easy it is to take action. 

For a programme, that might mean making an important action easier to remember. For a policy, it might mean looking at how options are presented. For a process, it might mean removing unnecessary steps that add effort without adding value. 

The harder part is applying these insights in practice. 

This October, the UN Behavioural Science in Action Workshop gave participants the opportunity to put these ideas into practice by working with UN colleagues on a fictional challenge grounded in the UN context. 

Moving a step forward, between 7 to 11 December, the Hub for Transformation will host the UN 2.0 Bootcamp, a five-days hands-on learning journey in Bonn where colleagues from across the system will upskill themselves on Behavioural Science and the other capabilities of the Quintet of Change: Data, Digital, Innovation, and Foresight. Should this be of interest, find more information here: UN 2.0 Bootcamp | UNSSC | United Nations System Staff College