How to Make Decision-Making Easier
Making decisions is a crucial part of our daily lives. As we navigate the vast array of options presented to us and work through the requests that demand our attention, it can be difficult to decide on things. Over time, this challenge can actually increase in difficulty if we lack the skills and structure to easily make decisions.
Leaning into simplicity and thoughtfulness can help to strengthen our decision-making muscle and give us more confidence in saying yes or no to opportunities.
First, be sure that you are confident in the goals you set.
Confidence doesn’t mean that you don’t sometimes doubt the likelihood that you will achieve your goals. Rather confident goals are goals that are aligned with your vision and are clearly defined. They are a strong backbone for you to lean on as you work through decisions.
Next, keep your considerations simple:
Does this decision simply benefit the short-term or does it also contribute to long-term success?
Short-sightedness is a plague that infects new entrepreneurs and established executives. To overcome this plague, it is helpful to refer to vision and mission statements as well as strategic goals. You want to be able to evaluate the impact this decision will have to your goals - which should be clearly defined and confidently set. This simple step helps to work through hasty decisions whose excitement may fizzle out before you can see real benefits.
Would I be proud to discuss my final decision with someone I admire?
This is where our values and morals come to light as we make decisions. Some opportunities may present themselves in an appealing light but after consideration, they may have a few hidden shadows. This is not to suggest that the opinions of others should sway our decisions. Just because your mentor or spouse disagrees with an opportunity doesn’t necessarily make it a bad decision. You simply need to be able to stand by your decision with pride - not stubbornness.
Does this decision need to be made immediately? Would taking my time with this decision actually diminish its potential impact?
Unless there is a legitimate emergency, most decisions do not require your immediate attention. “Last chance sales” on summits or salespeople that say “the price goes up after we get off this call” are negatively playing on our fear to not miss out. When urgency is presented without emergency, we need to seriously consider what we may be missing out on by walking away from an opportunity. There will be moments where a quick yes will provide you with amazing opportunities but not every decision should be hasty.
Have I made a similar decision before and what was the result?
This last consideration should almost be listed as a habit. Reflection is vital to minimizing future risk. We will not always be able to avoid mistakes. We can however make an effort to try to learn from the ones we have made. If you’ve made a decision that feels the slightest bit like deja-vu, then take a moment to reflect on the previous time you made a similar decision and the result. If you made previous mistakes, that doesn’t mean you have to alter your decision this time; though you should take the time to evaluate what you would need to do differently to achieve a more positive outcome. If your previous decision resulted in success, that doesn’t mean it will happen again. You should still reflect on what other factors may have contributed to that previous success and what you would need to do now to experience that again or experience it on a bigger scale.
Lastly, introduce these habits:
For decisions that require support, lean into your network. It is easiest to make a decision on who to allow to help us when we already know someone or we have a trusted network that can refer someone to us. This can mean asking around in your peer and mastermind groups or simply asking your virtual assistant to research options.
For decisions where you are unsure, talk through it with a colleague or mentor. Often when we frame up the situation we can end up “coaching ourselves” through it or unveiling what we actually want to do.
For decisions that when we say yes, the potential impact seems too good to be true, take a step back. This feeling will happen most often with decisions that moments that fall in line with Consideration #3 - decisions that present themselves with urgency. If it seems like there’s too much gold in the pot at the end of the rainbow, then be realistic when evaluating what would happen if you said no. Sometimes, you’re not actually missing out on much.
For decisions that we are too eager to say no to, take a moment to recognize any fears or insecurities. Sometimes, our immediate want to say no is because we are trying to protect ourselves. This can mask itself as “this would just take too much work”, “I simply don’t have the time to do this'', or “this would never work”. Take a moment to imagine what would happen if you said yes and everything worked out. What kind of impact would this have for you? What is the actual workload that this would demand and could you work it into your schedule without being burned out?
For decisions that don’t seem to need your full expertise, distance yourself. We can often avoid decision fatigue by allowing others to make decisions that do not require us. We can achieve this by training our team to think critically, documenting our processes, and providing direction where needed.
Decision-making is a learned skill that we should always be working at. With a simple structure, we can avoid some of the headaches and overwhelm and feel more confident in what we decide to do. If you’ve reached a point of decision-overwhelm or decision-fatigue, then take a step back and breathe. Evaluate what really matters to you and where you may be able to enlist support.