Habit

*/By Rick Nason, PhD, CFA
Partner, RSD Solutions Inc./*

Another shower story – not for a nanosecond that I think that anyone wants
to dwell on my showering habits.  However I take my risk lessons where I
can.

In my morning shower, I suspect I have the same habits as most people.  Wet
the hair, shampoo, then conditioner, then body soap.  In a hotel however
your routines get adjusted.  In a hotel you have shampoo, conditioner, and
then shower gel, all in those stupid little bottles that make it difficult to
get what's inside to come out. 

In any case, I recently got into the hotel shower, and started the routine;
wet the hair, shampoo, and then conditioner.  Then came the time to wash the
body.  Using shower gel however, instead of soap, I instinctively, and
stupidly, put the shower gel in my hair.  No major worries, as I suspect
shower gel, soap and shampoo are basically all the same thing, simply
packaged differently so the personal body care companies can sell us more
product.  The problem was the gel washed the conditioner out of my hair,
which then made my hair that much more difficult to brush.  (Having very
fine long hair has its disadvantages.)

The point I want to make is that a lot of things we do solely out of habit. 
Good risk management recognizes this and accounts for this.  Bad risk
management ignores this very human element of our nature.