Your life is framed by your choices. It’s the decisions that you make decides your fate. So, how good are your decision making skills? Can you decide what you want to have for lunch let alone what you want to do with your life? Can you know for sure which dress to buy? Or pick a job offer when you have multiple options? I know you might cringe in such situation; we all have been there at some point in time.
Evolution has gifted humans with the most complicated thing that has ever existed – the human mind. Our mind works in the clumsiest way at times, providing us with some of the weirdest ideas. Those unique ideas may prove to be innovations sometimes, but they can also come with its predictable flaws.
We have to make decisions at every step of our lives, but we often get confused between varied options and end up getting overwhelmed with indecisiveness and make wrong decisions. We forget to consider if the option that we are about to select would be worth the effort or input that we are putting in.
How to improve decision making skills? Here’s how:
If you have a list of alternatives, analyze each one
When your mind is presented with a single idea, it really thinks to implement it without giving it a second thought. In such cases, force yourself to come up with alternatives that can be opted to get a better outcome. Think in the opposite direction; our brains work better when we start thinking about the opposite. Thus, considering different possibilities can give you an idea about how you can benefit from a specific method. After having a list of ways of doing something, pick the method that is best suited to you and will prove to be better than the rest.
Evaluate the cost and the benefits
Before you make the ultimate decision, it is necessary to weigh the option that you have picked by making a list of pros and cons that you might face after making the decision. Comparing the list of pros will allow you to have an idea if the decision will match with your priorities and the list of cons will let you know if the implementing the decision will be worth the risk. You have to pick an option that has lesser cons as compared to its pros, but you also have to ensure that the cons don’t outweigh the pros for any of the decisions.
Know the significance of the matter
How much time do you require in making a decision? 5 seconds, 5 minutes, 5 hours, or 5 days? It totally depends on how important the matter is and how your decision will influence something that’s at stake. If you are deciding something as simple as what to have for lunch or what to wear to your date, keep all the things in perspective and don’t take too much time in making the decision (or you’ll end up eating nothing or cancelling the date because you have nothing to wear). How to improve decision making skills when it comes to deciding if the matter is significant or not? Simply ask a question – “Will this decision have a major impact on my life?” If your answer is no, you probably shouldn’t be that worried about making that decision.