Making decision is a very tough task for most people because they fear they might fail if they decide. After a little bit of googling I am listing the techniques that I found reasonable for making a decision easily.
First we have to see why we often fear to decide. This helps us to identify what is our weakness.
Why we are not taking decision:
---------------------------------
1. Due to the thinking that by not making a decision you can’t make a mistake. Wrong! (No decision is a decision, and often not a good one.)
2. There is only 1 right answer. Fortunately this is rarely the case, but thinking this way makes the prospect of decision-making overwhelming.
3. Before making a decision you must be 100 percent sure of it.
4. Believing a decision can only be valid if ratified by other people. This approach often comes out of fear of making an entirely independent decision. It may be a sign of reluctance to become fully adult and take responsibility for one's own life.
Point 3 explained in detail:
This condition is virtually impossible. Human beings are complex, and can react to a decision in many different ways at the same time. Further, we can’t see the future, so it is impossible to predict the outcome of a decision with certainty. In short, 85 percent is about as good as it gets.Wanting too much certainty before acting. Perfectionist types with simplistic ideas of right and wrong go for this one. They don't feel it is reasonable to act on a decision while still having doubts about it. They want a certificate to come through the letterbox telling them the right decision has been reached and officially approved. As this doesn't happen, their minds go round and round in circles and they actually think too much.
Mnemonic to remember these points:
100=>Point3
1=>Point2
Certified=>Point4
Mistakes=>Point1
Finally – how to make a decision
---------------------------------
1. Learn to trust your instincts. Don't always insist on 'logical' reasons for everything, such as why to get the silver rather than blue car. Learn to say: 'Because it feels right.'
2. But don't be tempted to automatically go with greed driven decisions because of strong emotion and then try to flatter yourself with after-the-event justification and rationalisations. Intuitive decision making works best when the distorting effects of emotion are kept to a minimum.
3. When you do base decision making on weighing up the pros and cons, use your imagination. Really sit down and envisage living with the decision. How does that feel?
Point 1 explained in detail:
When decision making gets tough – trust your gut instincts. When decision making gets tough – trust your gut instincts. Research published in 'Current Biology' shows that in some instances snap decisions are better than endless pedantic pondering and logical weighing up. Test subjects (what we non-scientists know as 'people') were asked to pick the odd one out on a screen covered with more than 650 identical symbols, including one rotated version of the same symbol. They performed better when they were given no time to linger and were forced to rely on their subconscious to select the correct answer.Dr Li Zhaoping of University College London said: "You'd expect people to make better decisions when given time to look properly, but this was not so." He explained: "The conscious or top level function of the brain, when active, vetoes our initial subconscious decision – even when it is correct – leaving us unaware or distrustful of our instincts." So thinking too much about a decision can leave us worse off. This is what happens with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, when the subconscious knows very well that you have turned the gas off, but the conscious brain gets too involved and throws the whole thing into doubt, forcing you to check fifty times!. So the famous Milton Erickson's injunction to 'trust your unconscious' is now backed up by research. Your conscious logical brain doesn't always make the best decisions.
Another example:
simple decisions are best made by careful conscious thought.But for complicated decisions, the best choices may result from “deliberation without paying attention,” that is letting the thinking be done by the unconscious mind.
Example for this theory:
In another experiment, two stores were selected, one that sold complicated items like furniture and the other a department
store that sold simple products. As people left the store, people were asked questions about what they bought, why they bought it, how costly was it, and how much they thought about making the choice. The buyers were categorized as either “thinkers” (those who spent a lot of time consciously making a decision) and “impulse buyers” (who did not spend much time consciously thinking about their choice). Several weeks later, these same people were called to check on how satisfied they were with the purchase. As expected, more post choice satisfaction was found in the conscious thinker group, but only for the simple items in the department store. For the complex choices in the furniture store, the unconscious thinkers expressed the most satisfaction with their purchases.
Mnemonic code to remember: FRoG
F-Feeling(Point3)
R -Rational(Point2)
G- Gut Insticts(Point1)
Some insightful remarks about the decision making:
* If we wait for absolute certainty before acting then we may never act.
* Sometimes there are no 'right' decisions, only different or alternate decisions. Trying to make the 'right' decision assumes that life is always simple or even simplistic.
* With some decisions you'll never know for sure it was the right one.
* Not making a decision is a decision
* every decision involves a choice between maintaining the status qua vs. making a change.
* Don’t Outsource Your Brain. Not to media personalities, not to politicians, not to your smart neighbour… Make your own decisions, and mistakes. And learn from them. That way, you are training your brain, not your neighbour’s.
First we have to see why we often fear to decide. This helps us to identify what is our weakness.
Why we are not taking decision:
---------------------------------
1. Due to the thinking that by not making a decision you can’t make a mistake. Wrong! (No decision is a decision, and often not a good one.)
2. There is only 1 right answer. Fortunately this is rarely the case, but thinking this way makes the prospect of decision-making overwhelming.
3. Before making a decision you must be 100 percent sure of it.
4. Believing a decision can only be valid if ratified by other people. This approach often comes out of fear of making an entirely independent decision. It may be a sign of reluctance to become fully adult and take responsibility for one's own life.
Point 3 explained in detail:
This condition is virtually impossible. Human beings are complex, and can react to a decision in many different ways at the same time. Further, we can’t see the future, so it is impossible to predict the outcome of a decision with certainty. In short, 85 percent is about as good as it gets.Wanting too much certainty before acting. Perfectionist types with simplistic ideas of right and wrong go for this one. They don't feel it is reasonable to act on a decision while still having doubts about it. They want a certificate to come through the letterbox telling them the right decision has been reached and officially approved. As this doesn't happen, their minds go round and round in circles and they actually think too much.
Mnemonic to remember these points:
100=>Point3
1=>Point2
Certified=>Point4
Mistakes=>Point1
Finally – how to make a decision
---------------------------------
1. Learn to trust your instincts. Don't always insist on 'logical' reasons for everything, such as why to get the silver rather than blue car. Learn to say: 'Because it feels right.'
2. But don't be tempted to automatically go with greed driven decisions because of strong emotion and then try to flatter yourself with after-the-event justification and rationalisations. Intuitive decision making works best when the distorting effects of emotion are kept to a minimum.
3. When you do base decision making on weighing up the pros and cons, use your imagination. Really sit down and envisage living with the decision. How does that feel?
Point 1 explained in detail:
When decision making gets tough – trust your gut instincts. When decision making gets tough – trust your gut instincts. Research published in 'Current Biology' shows that in some instances snap decisions are better than endless pedantic pondering and logical weighing up. Test subjects (what we non-scientists know as 'people') were asked to pick the odd one out on a screen covered with more than 650 identical symbols, including one rotated version of the same symbol. They performed better when they were given no time to linger and were forced to rely on their subconscious to select the correct answer.Dr Li Zhaoping of University College London said: "You'd expect people to make better decisions when given time to look properly, but this was not so." He explained: "The conscious or top level function of the brain, when active, vetoes our initial subconscious decision – even when it is correct – leaving us unaware or distrustful of our instincts." So thinking too much about a decision can leave us worse off. This is what happens with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, when the subconscious knows very well that you have turned the gas off, but the conscious brain gets too involved and throws the whole thing into doubt, forcing you to check fifty times!. So the famous Milton Erickson's injunction to 'trust your unconscious' is now backed up by research. Your conscious logical brain doesn't always make the best decisions.
Another example:
simple decisions are best made by careful conscious thought.But for complicated decisions, the best choices may result from “deliberation without paying attention,” that is letting the thinking be done by the unconscious mind.
Example for this theory:
In another experiment, two stores were selected, one that sold complicated items like furniture and the other a department
store that sold simple products. As people left the store, people were asked questions about what they bought, why they bought it, how costly was it, and how much they thought about making the choice. The buyers were categorized as either “thinkers” (those who spent a lot of time consciously making a decision) and “impulse buyers” (who did not spend much time consciously thinking about their choice). Several weeks later, these same people were called to check on how satisfied they were with the purchase. As expected, more post choice satisfaction was found in the conscious thinker group, but only for the simple items in the department store. For the complex choices in the furniture store, the unconscious thinkers expressed the most satisfaction with their purchases.
Mnemonic code to remember: FRoG
F-Feeling(Point3)
R -Rational(Point2)
G- Gut Insticts(Point1)
Some insightful remarks about the decision making:
* If we wait for absolute certainty before acting then we may never act.
* Sometimes there are no 'right' decisions, only different or alternate decisions. Trying to make the 'right' decision assumes that life is always simple or even simplistic.
* With some decisions you'll never know for sure it was the right one.
* Not making a decision is a decision
* every decision involves a choice between maintaining the status qua vs. making a change.
* Don’t Outsource Your Brain. Not to media personalities, not to politicians, not to your smart neighbour… Make your own decisions, and mistakes. And learn from them. That way, you are training your brain, not your neighbour’s.
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