There are books, courses and certifications dedicated to decision-making science. They all emphasize the value of process, hearing opposing views and using time as a means of optimization. Often, they rely on case studies, historical events and corporate scenarios that primarily apply in professional settings. We encounter all kinds of decisions in daily life. Developing awareness of how to apply those techniques to what seem like minor choices is a valuable practice.
The first step is building your decision making awareness. I recommend starting to frame more and more granular things as strategic decisions. Is it better to talk or listen when I meet with my boss? Should I ask for an in-person meeting, or will a Teams call suffice? Where does the family most like to eat on Friday nights? The next time you’re inclined to shoot from the hip on a day to day decision, ask yourself this question: How much time do I have to think about it? The moment you ask that question, an action becomes a strategic decision and it opens your mind to the deliberative process.
Next, study the deliberative process. The more we know about how good decisions are made, and the dynamics and pressures that surround them, the more we can incorporate those techniques into our lives. The Art of Critical Decision Making course by Michael Roberto available on Audible is a great reference, along with leaders’ biographies. They all surface the ubiquitous role that time makes in making decisions. Thus, the easiest technique to add to our daily lives is rooted in the question of how much time there is to think about it. When we 1) recognize we are making a decision, 2) identify how much time we have to think about it, 3) and take the full amount of time available to us, we have taken a major step toward inviting the benefits of a conscious daily decision-making practice into our lives.
When Nietzsche said, “thoughts arise from moods,” he was basically saying our moods decide what pops up into our minds as thoughts, not the other way around. When we wait on decisions, we give our moods time to shift, and our thoughts shift with them. We want this because it gives us a chance to pick which thoughts about a decision are most suited to our aspirations and desired outcomes. In practice, this is giving every version of ourselves time to weigh in. Our anxious-after-getting-bad-news selves, after-hard-cardio selves, and after-a-good-night’s-sleep selves are much different people. After pondering an issue, a great question to ask ourselves is which version of us speaks best to our aspirations?
The through-line on most decisions I have made in my career (and life) that have not gone as I hoped is my failure to use all the time I had to consider it. I have blown it for a lot of other reasons too, but that has been my most common error. A wise mentor once to told me, “In all things … slow as possible, as fast as necessary.” Those are words to live by. ●
Daniel Flowers is President and CEO of Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank
