Decision-making is an integral part of being a human, we all are learning this skill since we are little kids, deciding whether to choose chocolate or vegetables, play games, or study.
As we grow older, the decisions that we make become more complicated. At that time, the consequences become more serious.
I don’t have to tell you that the decisions you’re making today will determine your future. And how you invest your time today, that will determine how quickly you will achieve your goals.
But decision-making is not an easy thing because if it were then, people wouldn’t be making so many bad decisions. It’s not that people want to make bad decisions, but it just happens that there are all these emotional triggers and noise.
When we make decisions, we end up making poor decisions, so before we dive into the concepts and strategies to improve our decision-making skills.
WHAT’S IN IT
Why people are making poor decisions?
The following are some of the main reasons why people are making poor decisions?
Incomplete or False Information
We now live in the Internet age, where information is available to almost everybody. So the problem is that information, for the most part, is uncontrolled. It means that anyone can post whatever they want. So when you do your research, you might come across information that is not true. These work hand to hand with confirmation bias.
Confirmation Bias
Confirmation bias refers to our tendency to search for and information that confirms our beliefs. When simultaneously ignoring or devaluing the information that contradicts our beliefs.
Emotions
All humans are emotional creatures. They are sensitive, and that’s why marketers are using emotions to influence our buying decisions, and as you have probably noticed, it works. A lot of times we buy stuff that we don’t need. It is also common to get emotionally attached.
For example, I have a friend. We all call him Rohit. Rohit is a good friend of mine, and I like and respect him. Rohit doesn’t know it, but he has a huge influence on me.
One day Rohit starts to smoke and tells me that it’s cool to smoke, all the cool kids do that because I respect him, I believe that what he was saying is true, I will probably start to smoke as well even if I think that it’s not healthy and good for me.
Rush and Hurry
We are living in a constant hurry. We have deadlines to meet, and we are busy all the time. So it’s no wonder that one of the biggest problems in decision-making is rush decisions that we later have to regret.
At first, it might seem like there is not much we can do with our deadlines, but usually, people themselves create situations where they have to make rash decisions.
For example, If my boss asked me to prepare a presentation about market research. In most cases, he will give me some time to do the research. it’s unlikely that he will suddenly from thinner want a presentation in the next three hours, I might be given a week or at least a couple of days to do proper research and come up with a good action plan.
In this case, we will use the week as an example. So at the point of getting tasks, it seems reasonable to prepare the presentation in one week. So if I think it will take me 10 hours to make everything, I can easily spend 2 hours each day. And by the end of the week, I will have the job done.
But most people will not do that. Most people will delay till the last day and then be like, “oh my god, I have so little time left, and my boss needs a presentation today.” When you’re in a position like this, you will probably make bad decisions.
Self Preparation For Great Decision Making
As you can see, we are surrounded by an environment that can significantly influence how we are making our decisions. And this environment is not helping us to make the right decisions in our life. So we have to be smart about how we are going to tackle this by the needed skill of decision-making.
Decisions must go in line with your goals.
When you have to make a decision, you should think about how this decision will impact your goals. Making a decision that is not in line with your goals will turn out to be a disaster because it will contradict your beliefs and restrict you from achieving your goals.
For example, If you want to play football, and that is your goal, then picking up any other sports will contradict your ultimate goal. You also need to think about your physical condition. So when you’re deciding how to spend your spare time, you should consider how to include some physical activity in your plan.
Small decisions make a huge impact.
Firstly, All these things are big huge decisions that we make in our life, like what career path to choose or in which university to study and when it’s true that these decisions matter.
We often forget about little daily decisions that add together and make a massive difference in our life. If you look around, you will notice that these small decisions and actions lead to extraordinary results.
If you write a blog, you will not be successful with one viral post. Yes, you might gain a boost in traffic, but that will not guarantee you success. What will ensure your success is the decision to write daily and post consistent content over extended periods.
Deciding to eat at Mc Donald’s will leave a harmful impact on your goal if you are trying to lose some weight. If you want to build some muscle, then skipping a gym session is not a good idea.
These are tiny decisions that have a small impact on the goal. But repeated over and over will result in you never achieving your goal.
Take yourself out of the situation.
As I mentioned above, One of the biggest challenges in making decisions is that people tend to make emotional decisions. And the decision that is made in an emotional wave is probably not the right decision.
A great technique is to imagine that you’re not in a situation by yourself. But you’re advising your best friend. This way, you have all the reasons to make the right decisions for your friend, and you will not be emotional because you are not in that situation.
For example, I have started a new business, and six months later, I find myself struggling with everything. I have problems with my team, it’s hard to manage, and they are not getting along well.
My product is having some issues, and I’m getting bad feedback from my customers. At that time, sales are quite bad as well. So I start to think if I should keep going or just quit and do something else.
If I want to make a decision, I will be very emotional when I am in this situation. But what I can do to make a better decision is to imagine that my best friend is in this situation and give him advice about what to do.
When I look at the situation without emotions, then I will be able to make a much better decision. Another great thing is that I use myself quite often is making just good enough decisions. When you want to make a perfect decision, you will always overthink and over the plan, which will lead to procrastination.
Remember that all the decisions that you make can be changed. As you grow your knowledge and experience, you will improve your decisions to better ones.
Conclusion
In conclusion, We can do self-preparation for making the right decision. In the future decisions are become complicated, to grow your business. So, we need to improve our decision-making skills over some time.
In this blog, you can read the 3 things on self-preparation for decision making, which is related to your goals, small decisions, and take yourself out of the situation.
Also you can read our blog on How To Learn RISK IMPACT AND PROBABILITY CHART