How to Make Better Decisions

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Our whole life is the result of our decisions. Some are good, and some are bad. We don’t always pick the best choice so sometimes we become hesitant to even decide. But to move forward, we must not be afraid to call the shots. Being brave enough shows that we can be leaders, leaders who can inspire other people.

Having to decide on things is tricky, good thing there are some tips and techniques that we can learn on how to make better decisions. It will make you appear as a better leader plus better choices will improve the quality of your work. Let’s explore the things that we can undertake to make better decisions.

Don’t Over Think It

As I said, our lives are basically a bunch of decisions. Choices are such a big part of our lives that even in school we were trained to do so in the form of multiple choice questions. My former teacher always said, don’t over think it. If you spot the correct answer from the choices, just circle the letter. Over thinking can cloud your judgment, make you doubt yourself, and will make you choose the wrong answer when you were correct right from the start.

Don’t be afraid to choose quickly because it has been studied by psychologists that we we’re designed to make quick decisions based from limited information. For example, you have five pieces of information but one stood out and was enough to make a decision, would you waste your time reading the rest?

Decide on Your Own

Two cooks spoil the broth so decide for yourself if you have the chance. Although advice can be helpful, deciding on your own makes you look like a capable person. But that doesn’t mean that you make decisions willy nilly, you always get either the right or all of the information.

 Right Information Vs. All of the Information

There are two kinds of decision makers, Satisficers and Maximizers. Satisficers make decisions or take action when their criteria are met. Although they easily get satisfied, it doesn’t mean that they settle for mediocrity because their criteria are still high. What this means is that when they find the right restaurant to eat at, or the right venue for their celebration, they’ll stop looking for the next best thing. Maximizers on the other hand need to have all the information available to make better decisions. It would appear that Maximizers are better than Satisficers but according to Barry Schwartz, writer of the book ‘The Paradox of Choice’, Satisficers are happier while being a Maximizer uses a lot of time and energy in making decisions. Maximizers also are anxious with the decision that they’ve made, even though they made a very informed verdict.

So the best thing to do is become a Satisficer. Your decisions will be quicker and will save you a lot of time and energy to do more work.

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