I feel that I avoid most rationalizing simply by being very comfortable, perhaps too comfortable, with the possibility that my beliefs may be wrong and my decisions suboptimal. Is the design I came up with for my work project any good? Maybe not. Have I made the right career choices? Probably not. Am I living in the right city? Maybe, maybe not. Is my current life plan going to lead me to happiness? Doubtful.
Anna Salamon and I are confused. Both of us notice ourselves rationalizing on pretty much a daily basis and have to apply techniques like the Litany of Tarski pretty regularly. But in several of our test sessions for teaching rationality, a handful of people report never rationalizing and seem to have little clue what Tarski is for. They don't relate to any examples we give, whether fictitious or actual personal examples from our lives. Some of these people show signs of being rather high-level rationalists overall, although some don't.