Do I overestimate how rational I am? Almost certainly, knowing this is important as it should allow me to change behaviour and act more rationally or incorporate the irrationality into the equation. A contributing factor to the overestimation is that when I think I am for the most part rational, I just don’t think that much or follow my thought out plans consistently…

An interesting point where knowing how irrational you are can be helpful is when you are motivated. Often I end up procrastinating until I should go to bed and then I start work. When I finally have the motivation the rational decision is to go to bed as I know I won’t be as effective during the session or during the next day. But occasionally it is worth doing the work just to prove to yourself you can do it and building belief by seeing that you are moving in the right direction.

Belief is intangible, difficult to quantify and its importance in a given task varies dramatically, but this does not mean it should be ignored. If we acted rationally all the time we wouldn’t need the belief, but we do not act rationally all the time. Knowing that you can do something or already having started leads to a higher chance of making the rational decision to keep going. As a side benefit generally I feel much better about myself as I am obviosuly getting closer to where I want to be. Belief and rationality are not opposed and should work in tandem to propel you forward, sometimes you just need to do something irrational to get started.