How to Make Better Decisions


‘Rinku,’ said Rahul. ‘Be it deciding between idliordosa or choosing between courses to study, I’m always confused.’

‘Yup,’said Rinku. ‘You’re terrible at making decisions.’

‘How do I improve my decision-making bhaiyya?’ asked Rahul.

‘Practice,’smiled Rakesh. ‘Understanding the decision-making processand practicing it regularly helps you make better decisions.’

‘What’s the processbhaiyya?’askedRinku.

‘Our decision-making is hampered by four obstacles according to Chip and Dan Heath who wrote the book ‘Decisive’,’said Rakesh. ‘They are - having a narrow set of choices, confirmation bias, emotional hijack and overconfidence.’

‘How do we overcome these four villains bhaiyya?’ askedRahul.

‘Widen your options first,’said Rakesh. ‘Research proves that even having two options increases the quality of decision-makingsubstantially. One way to widen options is to eliminate the ones you’re considering which forcesyou to examine other options. Also, instead of looking at ‘this OR that’,examine ‘this AND that’ scenarios. Don’t get into ‘yes’ or ‘no’‘situations, look at ‘what else. Get more information, from experts.Using techniques like these will widen your options.’

‘Interesting,’ saidRinku. ‘How to tackle confirmation bias?’

‘Confirmation bias is deciding beforehand that you like something based on past belief and then finding proof thatconfirms yourdecision,’ said Rakesh.‘To avoid this bias, test your assumptions. Ask questions that disconfirm your bias. Conduct small tests to sample options concretely instead of assuming - like we do when trying out ice cream flavours.As always, objective expert opinion always helps.’

‘Test before deciding,’ said Rahul.‘How do we guard against emotional hijack bhaiyya?’

‘The best way to protectdecision-making from an emotional hijack is to keep distance,’ said Rakesh. ‘Others rush you into making emotional decisions – take your time. Detach yourself. Be an objective observer. Think like how youwould if you werehelping your best friend to decide.One technique to create distance is the 10/10/10 method –will your decision still hold as strongly after 10 minutes, 10 days and 10 years.And remember, since all emotional difficulty in decision-making is about conflicting priorities, it helps toeliminate lesser priorities.’

‘Any other techniques bhaiyya?’asked Rinku.

‘Lookingat both worst and best scenariosimproves perspective,’ said Rakesh. ‘Make a list of your decision-making history - use insights behind good decisions to make more good decisions and create a stop-doing-list to avoid repeatingbad decisions. Creating emotional tripwires that warn you when you’re uncertain helps. Practice right processes and your decision-making will surelyget better.’

‘Thanks bhaiyya,’said Rahul. ‘This will help me immensely in making small and big decisions in my life much better.’

Pro Tip: Decision-making gets better with practice. Widen options, get more information, test your assumptions and maintain a distance emotionally to make better decisions.


 

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