Making Better Decisions: What You Need to Know

Getting ahead usually comes down to the choices you make, and good choices rarely arrive easily. There are a few things worth knowing that will help you decide well, and decide without dragging it out. People who have built solid careers and steady relationships tend to share one habit: they make decisions capably. When you get better at this, the rest of your life tends to follow. Being able to think quickly under pressure, while still pulling apart the pieces of a problem, matters a lot for how you grow.

Deciding is a process, not a single moment, and sometimes there simply isn't a correct answer waiting at the end of it. The strongest approach pairs reasoning with intuition. You can lean on just one, but using both together raises your odds of landing somewhere good. Working through a decision step by step also lets you trace, later on, how you got where you got. It keeps you honest about deadlines, since you can plan the decision rather than let it plan you. And a tangled decision becomes manageable once you cut it into several smaller ones.

Whenever you decide something, your mind runs through a sequence of steps, usually without announcing them. Even a snap judgment passes through this same machinery. Knowing the sequence lets you slow down and actually think before committing. The stages look roughly like this: list every option and possible solution you can see; decide who is best placed to make the call, and set a deadline for making it; pull together the information the decision requires; sort out what matters most; weigh the pros and cons tied to each possible action; then make the choice.

Knowing how to decide well is only half of it. It helps just as much to recognize the moves that lead to bad decisions, because then you can sidestep them.

One trap is wanting too much certainty before you act. Perfectionists wander into this one often. Chasing the right facts is fine, but stalling because nothing feels airtight is its own failure. Set a timetable for how you'll work toward the decision and when you'll land it, then hold yourself to it so you don't flinch at the last second and reverse course.

Another is believing a decision only counts if everyone signs off on it. As long as your choice improves your life and doesn't harm anyone else, it stands, even when people disagree. Fear of how others will react is natural, especially with choices that ripple out to a lot of people. That's exactly the point where you have to trust your read of the situation and the information you've collected.

Deciding while your emotions are running hot is a reliable way to get it wrong. Setting feelings aside and letting logic do the steering is what separates a sound call from a regrettable one. If you're worked up, step away and let the important decisions wait.

Then there's repeating the same mistake. If a past choice went badly, the lesson is simple: don't walk into it a second time.

With a clearer picture of how decisions get made and why any of it matters, you'll notice growth showing up in corners of your life you weren't watching. Shedding indecision pays off in odd ways, from getting more done to holding onto more of your money. This is a skill, and like any skill it rewards steady work over a long stretch. Spend a little time each day looking at your own decisions and sharpening how you make them.

Reference: Bernstein, E. (2014). How You Make Decisions Says a Lot About How Happy You Are. Retrieved March 11, 2015 from the Wall Street Journal.