Making Better Decisions

One thing that almost every person has in common is the undeniable fact that we’ve all made our fair share of regrettable decisions. Show me a person who hasn’t made a bad decision and I’ll show you a person who is either not being honest, or someone who avoids making decisions at all costs. Making sound decisions (especially if you’re under pressure) is a skill set that needs developing like any other. This is especially important for those who wish to reach leadership positions. Nothing will test the strength of your leadership more than your ability to make decisions.

1. Be A Fly On The Wall

One science backed way to make more rational decisions is to remove yourself from the situation and consider yourself as an outside observer. While in a third-person perspective you are more likely to employ rational, wise and mature reasoning. Wise reasoning includes but is not limited to strategies such as considering other’s perspectives, thinking about different ways the scenario could unfold and thinking about compromises.

2. Keep Your Mind in The Present

Mindfulness meditation is an excellent way to focus your awareness on the present moment. But it can also help you decide whether it’s time to cut your losses. When you’ve already invested time and energy into something (called sunk-cost bias), it can be difficult to know when to cut your losses. However, meditation helps to reduce how much you focus on the past and future. This psychological shift generally leads to less negative emotion. The reduced negative emotion helps to facilitate the ability to make better decisions.

3. Think in another language

This is an interesting tactic but after using it for a couple of years I can say without a doubt it works. By thinking in a different language to the one where you have the problem removes some of the emotional connection you may have to the situation. Allowing you to disconnect and to think about the situation more rationally. However, sometimes it is enough to think about the situation using a different set of vocabularies in the same language. Instead of swearing, using neutrally emotive language can help you see the situation in a different light.

4. Increase your Emotional Intelligence

Emotional Intelligence – the ability to recognize, understand and manage our own emotions while simultaneously being able to recognize, understand and influence the emotions of others. By cultivating your emotional intelligence, you can keep your emotions from influencing unrelated decisions.

 

If you follow these steps you're sure to be on your way to making better decisions!

To make better decisions in Excel, try our Microsoft Excel courses.