What seems to be the best option in the moment isn’t always the right one for us. That’s one of the biggest reasons why only when looking back can we be sure whether a decision was good or not. Lets quickly see how that happens and also what to do instead to make better decisions in life.
How to make better decisions faster
1. Missing elements
The option that instinctively feels right could be a heuristic trap – shortcuts that our brain uses to save energy. And these shortcuts are good to make routine choices, like what would you like to order at your favorite café. But when it comes to making decision for something new, the brain quickly finds a past experience that seems similar and suggests what worked in that situation.
But the problem is, it can ignore potentially important stuff to find similarity. And so what worked before doesn’t really mean it will work again.
What to do instead –
If you have time, sleep on it. But if there’s no time for that, do something else for a while. It lets our brain keep working in the background without us interrupting, connecting ideas that we wouldn’t even consciously think of.
A study conducted by the Carnegie Mellon University, finds that the brain regions responsible for making decisions continue to be active even when the conscious brain is distracted with a different task
It also gives us more clarity about the situation and so we can better see whether what seemed to be a good choice at first still feels so or not.
The bottom line is, to make better decisions it helps not to act on the first thing that comes to mind without giving it more thought.
2. Overkill is not the way to make better decisions
But thinking something through to find the best option doesn’t always mean we will make better decisions. Because sometimes we end up collecting too much information. In psychology, the people who do this are called maximizers, trying to cover every base to make the best decision.
With too much information there’s the risk of analysis paralysis, which means we get stuck in indecision, and that’s what leads to missed opportunities.
What to do instead –
- Paradox of choice – Too many options can push us into indecision. This is called the paradox of choice. Too many choices actually means we need to put in more effort to choose. And that leaves us feeling unsatisfied with the choice. So, limit options to the 3 or 4 most viable ones.
- Use opportunity cost analysis – When we choose to go down one way, it means we are giving up all the other paths, That’s the cost of that opportunity. So, find which option leaves you with the least regrets.
- Pro tip – Make smaller everyday decisions part of a routine or batch them. Like, meal planning or sorting out at the beginning of every week what you will wear to work each day. Getting smaller decisions out of the way helps avoid decision fatigue, leaving more energy for our brain to process information and make better decisions.
3. Clarity
But, to do the opportunity cost analysis we have to be clear about one thing. Watch the video up top to know what makes every decision feel satisfying no matter what the outcome.
Meet you right over there.
