How to Improve Decision-Making Skills Using Everyday Activities
This is a contributed post.
Everyone is capable of making a bad decision or two. That doesn't make you a bad person, per se. But not being able to figure out how to change your decision-making process and reverse results instead of repeating patterns isn't going to lead to a healthy and productive mindspace, is it?
The thing is, there are many influencing factors that impact how a person makes a decision and what the result of that decision will be. Timing, pressure, circumstances, emotions. All play a part.
But honestly, you can change how you make decisions, you can overhaul the process, and help you make better choices, to make informed decisions using the information you have, and justify your choices.
And these tips help you do exactly that.
Slow Down Decisions
Speed might feel productive in the heat of the moment, but genuinely, speed only makes it easier to make bad decisions. You need to take your time, even if you feel like there isn't any to spare.
Nothing is often as urgent as this, and usually you have even a few seconds to take a breath and quickly run through options, even if it's seconds in a life-or-death situation. Just stop and slow it right down in that instant.
And if your decision relies on relationships over work, money, or reputation, these areas of your life require a little extra time before committing to an answer, don't you think?
And sure, at the moment it might look like you're refusing to commit to plans or you're being indecisive, but the decision deserves time dedicated to getting it right. It's not always black and white, nor is the answer going to come to you immediately. So don't be worried about what it “looks” like, you're doing. Slowing things down will always be beneficial in times like this.
Use Games to Practise Risk
A lot of the time, poor decisions can come down to risk avoidance. You don't want to play fast and loose with your life or certain areas, and that is completely understandable and even admirable. But you cannot avoid risk entirely. You can practise risky decisions in safe environments where the real outcome doesn't affect anything, and you get a safe space to practise odds and improve your decision-making skills.
Games like blackjack — the non-betting kinds — are ideal for this. You're simply playing a game with no money involved, no high stakes, just a genuine chance to interact with the game and learn about risk and reward and patterns to your choices.
But any card-based games, logic games, and probability-based games are ideal for this type of practice. Because the thing is, it's not about the outcomes, it's about building your confidence and making decisions. It's allowing yourself to make different decisions and looking at the outcomes objectively in an environment where nothing else matters and the wrong decision has no impact at all.
Write Decisions Down
If a decision matters, it needs to be written down. If you require to make impactful choices, you need to see it written down clearly, not to be making snap decisions from information jumbled in your head.
So before you commit to anything, stop and get all the information out of your head. Write it down in a way that makes sense to you and shows logic to your reasoning. How you got from problem to resolution and why this is the best outcome for you. You can even jot down rough outcomes you expect to happen to help you make your decision, but at the very least, write it down.
Set Personal Rules
Some decisions will take more out of you than you might realise and come at a great personal cost. And over time, these choices will eat away at you. It might be always saying yes to help people out, even though you're physically burnt out. It might be saying yes to overtime at work when you know you can't manage it without sacrificing something important to you.
This is where your personal boundaries come into play. You need to decide what your limits are. Is it not spending over a certain sum on specific purchases? Or is it not agreeing to extra work when you hit a self-defined limit?
Whatever they are, enforce them and protect your own sanity and time. Because these rules will make it much easier to make the right decision for you, not others, but for you.
Track Decision-Making Habits
People repeat the same bad habits over and over again and call it bad luck when really you can halt it at any time.
You don't need a complex system. You simply need to track a few decisions you made and their outcomes. Notice when things went right and wrong. What decision did you make? What was the result of it? How long did you ruminate on the decision? What would you do differently, if anything?
This data might seem irrelevant; after all, you can't change the past, but it can help you change how you approach things in the future. Because when patterns become visible, they become easier to change and break. It's really as simple as that. It might not make the decision any easier to make, but it can help you aim for different outcomes.
Say No Clearly
This is really important. Learning to say no to things or people isn't as easy as it sounds, especially if you're a people pleaser. But when it comes to making better decisions, it is essential. You need to know when to say no and say it confidently.
There's no room for “perhaps”, “maybe”, “I’ll see”. You either commit to a yes or you say no and remove yourself from the equation. You don't need to justify it endlessly. No is a complete sentence, and you need to use it as one. You're not being mean, you're not unnecessarily causing issues, you're protecting what needs protecting: you.
Improving decision-making isn’t easy, but possible, and with time and practice, you can move forward and avoid the pitfalls of poor decisions.
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