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Many of the things you do every day are made more efficient with computers. At the extreme end, markets are now dominated by high-frequency trading, the buying and selling of financial products at digital speeds.

High-frequency trading now accounts for 70 percent of all stock transactions in the United States. But even in the fast-paced world of Wall Street, stock traders realized at a certain point that going faster doesn't necessarily mean higher profits.

Have you ever watched the cult classic, Fight Club? Did you know that the film also has a single frame showing a full-frontal nude male? A shocking move for an American blockbuster, for sure!

While the only way the human eye can consciously “see” such an image is to watch the movie one frame at a time, the image can and does enter our subconscious, if even just for a millisecond. In fact, consumers have been wary of such “subliminal messages” for decades.

Imagine you’re the captain of a football team. There’s 30 seconds left on the clock, and it’s up to you to make a game-changing decision. In such high-stakes moments, you need to know what you’re doing – and if you’re the captain, you probably do.

Experts don’t need to think before making a decision. In 1985, psychologist Gary Klein interviewed fireground commanders, the people in charge of firefighting operations, to determine how they made decisions in emergency situations.

If you had to pick out a racist in a crowd, what markers would you look for? Someone with a shaved head, or with racist-themed tattoos, or someone who resembles your doctor?

Interestingly, many physicians without consciously realizing it give better care to white people than to black people. Over a hundred scientific studies have confirmed this troubling fact.

Have you ever attended a speed-dating event, in which you quickly move from one potential partner to the next? Such methods may be misguided, as experience has shown that taking your time to find love is generally a more successful strategy.

When it comes to finding a partner, instant decisions can work against you. Online dating sites place an emphasis on photos, allowing a user to flip through and rapidly approve or disapprove of a person’s looks. This kind of superficial judgement can be counterproductive.

Do you ever put off a task you hate, like doing your taxes? Of course you do. Here’s why.

Humans aren’t great at comparing short-term and long-term benefits. Psychiatrist George Ainslie found that, when offered a choice between $50 now and $100 in the future, most people chose the $50 up front.

Do the people you admire the most rush around frantically, or are they composed, persistent and always watching for opportunity?

When it comes to the positive side of procrastination, there’s a lot to be learned from successful people. For instance, investor Warren Buffett is a huge proponent of delaying decisions. In fact, for him, a solid investment strategy is to wait patiently.