ABSTRACT
Modern humans are faced with not only external challenges but tricky areas within their very own minds which need to be addressed. In the digital age, professionals in their workplace or even within their personal sphere need to be more self-aware. The awareness of only the external environment is not sufficient. There is a plethora of evidence suggesting this emerging challenge in today’s daily life. The flourishing markets for wellness, meditation, smart trackers, etc. are clear signals that humans are preparing from within and are not just focused on external and environmental factors that directly influence their personal and professional problems; rather today’s humans believe in improving their own mind and body to create socioeconomic surpluses. As a result, people’s lifestyle choices and professional decisions that would not be considered “rational choices” in the past are becoming more and more mainstream, sometimes surprisingly so. It is now understood that humans do not only make rational decisions; their decisions are also based on many other factors that are not easily quantifiable, a notion that challenged the classical theory of rational choice. In this chapter, two major assumptions of the theory of rationality and their limitations are addressed, perfect information and monetary incentive, the two assumptions that are particularly important in today’s information age. Then, two important factors in decision-making, motivation and stress, are discussed in light of today’s fast-paced lifestyle. Finally, the chapter discusses two relatively new phenomena, “work from home” and “meditation,” which are believed by many to enhance productivity—two tools that digital-age humans can probably adopt to face modern-day behavioral challenges and to make conscious and innovative choices.
