How to Make Better Choices
When making a weighty decision—to buy a resale flat or apply for a new unit; to end a lukewarm romantic relationship or to continue with it; to leave a comfortable job for new prospects—how often have you found yourself listing the pros and cons of your actions to help you think objectively about your choices?
This “pros vs cons” approach may seem foolproof, but you’ll be surprised by the cognitive biases that can blindside you.
Here are four of the most dangerous (and common) biases in decision-making, and how you can address them, according to the authors of Decisive.
(Get the book, which features tons of illustrative stories on bad and good habits in decision-making, here: Physical Copy, eBook, Audiobook)
4 Bad Habits When Making Decisions
According to research by the authors, many of us are guilty of the following when evaluating our choices:
- Binary thinking: Thinking that it has to be A or B, instead of A AND B.
- Confirmation bias: Accepting evidence that supports what you think and ignoring evidence that contradicts your preference.
- Short-term emotion: Having our feelings churn and cloud our judgment when faced with a decision.
- Overconfidence: Thinking we know more about what the future holds.
Being aware of these habits is the first step you can take to change the way you think. To supercharge your decision-making skills, use the following overarching strategies.
Strategy #1: Widen Your Options
Avoid thinking within a narrow frame. Remember that most of the time, you have more options than you think. Any time you’re tempted to decide between this and that, ask yourself, “Is there a way I can do this AND that?”
Another tactic is to eliminate one option. Doing so will force you to get creative with alternatives. For instance, when torn between staying at your job or leaving for a new one, explore part-time hours or an internal transfer within your organisation instead.
Alternatively, look to people who have solved the same problem for inspiration on possible solutions you can consider.
Before going crazy with possible alternatives, know that one or two extra options is sufficient, and any more may create decision fatigue.
Strategy #2: Reality-Test Your Assumptions
It’s impossible to eliminate confirmation bias because of the way our brains are wired, but we can take steps to reduce it.
To counter our natural inclination for confirmation bias, take a step back and question your viewpoint. Consciously look for evidence or information that contradicts your beliefs. Where possible, seek out an expert and ask them questions that challenge your assumptions. If you can’t wait to buy the car that you’ve been eyeing, ask your dealer about its most common maintenance issues. And ask open-ended, neutral questions—our confirmation bias may lead us to ask leading questions that support our beliefs.
Strategy #3: Attain Distance Before Deciding
Ever regretted making a purchase because it was on sale for a limited time period, or because it looked really pretty on the shelf? Fleeting emotions often tempt us to make bad decisions for the long-term.
Perhaps there’s truly some merit to the phrase “sleep on your decision”. Buying time means we can think more rationally about our actions without being swayed by our excitement. It’s also helpful to identify your core priorities and enshrine them. These can help you move past the emotions surrounding your decision and provide clarity on the right thing to do.
On navigating your feelings, the 10/10/10 framework is a set of questions you can ask yourself to explore your sentiments more deeply. Ask yourself how you would feel about a decision 10 minutes from now, 10 months from now and 10 years from now. You might be able to tolerate your partner’s annoying quirks for 10 minutes, but can you put up with it 10 months from now, and can you live with them 10 years down the road?
Another tactic is to take yourself out of the situation and look at it from an observer’s perspective. Often we are so emotionally invested in our situation that we overcomplicate our thoughts. Ask yourself, “What would I tell my best friend to do in this situation?”
Strategy #4: Prepare to Be Wrong
Lastly, overconfidence about the future can disrupt our decisions—one reason why we must be mindful that things may go wrong.
When visualising what the future will look like after making a decision, try to think of the future not as a “point” but as a “range” of outcomes from bad to good. Perhaps you have accepted a job offer but discover that there are major downsides to it. Had you been overly optimistic that everything was going to be perfect, you might struggle to cope with the challenges. But if you’d been mentally prepared to make trade-offs, it would be easier to take things in stride.
We hope that you find the tips from Decisive useful. To learn more about the art and science of making sound decisions, check out the titles below:
From left to right:
Nudge: The Final Edition — Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein | Physical Copy, eBook, Audiobook
Principles — Ray Dalio | Physical Copy, eBook, Audiobook
Thinking, Fast and Slow — Daniel Kahneman | Physical Copy, eBook, Audiobook
Smart Choices: A Practical Guide to Making Better Decisions — John S. Hammond, Ralph L. Keeney, and Howard Raiffa | Audiobook
