6 Ways To Improve Your Decision Making Skills

Life is all about the choices that you make

Everything you do in your daily life is a decision. Whether you are choosing between working out and watching Netflix, reading a meaningful book and mindless scrolling the internet, doing high priority work and going out with friends, eating neat and binging on fast food — it’s a choice of one over the other.

Most people find it difficult to make decisions. Be it a small decision of choosing a new dish from the menu or a life-changing decision of accepting a job offer and moving to another place, the process of choosing is tricky and poses a challenge for everyone because decisions have consequences.

The mere thought of choosing one over the other makes people anxious and sends jitters down their spine. They worry about whether they have left behind something that was important, are missing out on an opportunity, or if the option they’ve gone for is the right one.

Decision-making is complex, and no one can get it right all the time. That’s because it’s not an exact science but is as much an art as it is a skill.

No one deliberately makes bad decisions. Mistakes happen when you take things lightly or ignore following the proper procedure. Here are some of the common causes of errors.

No matter how complicated the process may be, you must make a choice and decide to pick one option over another, for not deciding timely is a bigger mistake than making a wrong decision.

Let go of the fear of getting things wrong. Mistakes will keep happening; it’s part of life’s learning process. You learn and become wiser each time you decide and make a choice for you know for sure what works and what doesn’t work for you.

It’s impossible to make a decision and reach a conclusion when you are unsure of what you are dealing with. Therefore it is of utmost importance to gain clarity on what the real problem is, address the issue, and identify what needs to be done.

Begin by writing down the problem, and get relevant information about it from all possible sources. Avoid information overload, as it can prevent you from making the right decision.

Time spent knowing fully about the problem is worth it as it will give you an insight into the root cause and the magnitude of the problem. Also, you’ll be able to see the bigger picture and comprehend the difficulties you are dealing with.

The process of decision-making involves specific steps, and so you must have a roadmap to follow. This is more essential for critical decisions.

Lay down the steps you’ll follow, activities to undertake, the resources you’ll need, a list of people you can seek help from, and the people you will consult for an expert. You must also know the timeline and set a limit or you’ll be tempted to go over and over again through the choices and never really be arrive at a decision.

Once you get the hang of the problem, write down all the possible options and solutions you can think of for solving the issue.

In the first go, don’t think too hard; just let your thoughts flow and figure out all the ways of moving forward.

Once you have a few options, step away from the problem and sit over it to give time to both the problem and the solution to sink in.

When you revisit the problem, go through each option, assessing the merits and practicality and weighing the pros and cons.

Move the next step of ranking the options from best to the worst and eliminate the alternatives you find unsuitable in the existing scenario.

You often find it challenging to arrive at a decision because you are emotionally involved or attached to a particular option and find yourself being swayed by emotions.

In such situations, it’s wise to detach yourself from the problem at hand and visualize it as if it is happening to another person, a family member, or a friend.

Mentally distancing yourself and zooming out will broaden your horizon and allow you to see the problem from a third-person perspective. You’ll be able to see it from a different standpoint and deal with it in a better way.

Putting a little pressure on yourself while making a decision is a good thing as it prevents you from procrastinating.

Don’t overly agonize over decisions by going back and forth with the options. Give yourself sufficient time to review and process the alternatives and set a deadline by which you must come up with a choice and decide things one way or the way.

To hone your decision-making skills, you must record all your important decisions and how you arrived at them.

Regularly assessing your past decisions, referring to them, and taking cues when you feel stuck or are experiencing difficulty will give you the advantage of hindsight. This knowledge and wisdom will come handy in subsequent times when you are making difficult decisions.

Life is all about decision-making, and your success depends largely on the choices you make. Decisions have the power to impact your life both in the short term and the long term.

You cannot control everything that happens to you but when you do have a choice to express your free will, use the opportunity to make things work and turn them in your favor by being proactive and making a decision.

There’s no foolproof decision-making technique; it’s a process that involves risk.

Also, decision-making can be a lengthy and taxing process. And even after putting in all the effort, you may not have arrived at the best decision. But feel happy that you put in your best efforts and did succeed in reaching a decision.

You may also like:

6 Ways To Be More Diligent And Get Better At What You Do

7 Effective Habits Of Highly Successful And Smart People

If you like my articles, do share them with your friends. Let the positivity grow.

Related posts:

How to Read the Bible for All It’s Worth by Gordon Fee and Douglas Stuart. “2019 Books” is published by Riley Rapp in Riley Rapp.

Here I will share several methods for de-duplicating the list. It can be regarded as a sorting. If there are any mistakes, please let me know. distinct()is a method provided by Stream in Java 8…

Streaming films legally at home as they are playing in cinemas is such a controversial topic. To get to the bottom of things, we asked the opinion of thousands of people. The results may surprise you.