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Make Better Choices
- Seek good information. Be skeptic and never just assume that what you’re being told is always true.
- Avoid common pitfalls, like making decisions without enough time or information.
- Look at previous mistakes so you learn from them.
- Check in with yourself and ensure that the environment isn’t influencing your decisions unnecessarily.
- Take care of yourself. You are unlikely to make the best decisions when tired or unwell.
- Make time to think. The multitasking and distraction deluge to which we’re subjected every day can undermine good decision-making.
- Analyze well. Not getting the outcome you wanted doesn’t necessarily mean the decision was bad.
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Most decision-making errors boil down to:
- logical fallacies (over-generalizations, comparing apples and oranges, circular thinking)
- limiting beliefs (underestimations of what's possible)
- judgment biases (valuing certain factors above others).
In anything we do, there’s always ~20% of activities that will deliver 80% of our desired results.
It’s easy to be wrapped up in ‘busy’ work without ever getting anything done. Pareto’s Law is a useful mental model to be more effective, rather than just be efficient.
- Impulsivity. Thorough decisions combine all three senses – seeing, hearing and feeling. Impulsive decisions always lack one of these elements.
- Allowing yourself to be persuaded against your better judgment. The selfish judgment of others should not interfere with your decisions.
- Analysis paralysis. Inner conflict usually means a 'no'. Put off your decision for a while. Make an assessment of the risks involved and decide what size of risk you are willing to take.