What Is A Decision?
Some people contend, that in it’s simplest form, life is a series of choices. This is, in some sense, true. Except that it’s not that simple, because life itself is not that simple. The complexity of life or, rather, living a life, means that the choices the average individual faces over the course of a lifetime are equally complex. These choices range from simple survival decisions (Should I eat that mushroom?), to difficult moral personal choices (Should I speak out against this injustice and incur increased personal risk?) Obviously, the one thing that all these decisions have in common are the option of choosing action and outcome. However, because the nature of of these various actions, and their potential outcomes, vary wildly, no one strategy can encompass the process of deciding between them This is where an understanding of what a decision is becomes important.
A decision is, of course, the action of deciding something. A person faced with a choice, makes a choice. The most basic example of this is the proverbial fork in the road. When facing a fork in the road, you have the choice of going left or going right. You stop for a period of time while you think, then you decide to go either left or right. Once the decision has been made you take the path you’ve chosen.
That’s straightforward and obvious, right? To some extent, the answer to that question is yes. To a greater extent, however, the answer is no. To become a more efficient and more focused decision maker, you need to understand all the processes that went into making the simple decision above.
First, there was a problem. The path you were walking on divided into two. Second, there was the nature of the problem. Because the path divided, you were forced to go either left or right to reach your destination. Third, you needed to choose between these two options in order to continue. Fourth, you utilized your experience, knowledge and intuition to decide which option was best suited to your needs. Fifth, you actually made the decision. Finally, you, once again, began moving forward towards your destination based on that decision.
As you can see, the simplest of decisions entails a number of steps. In most cases, we handle these steps subconsciously, without really being aware of what it is we are doing. When the decision we are faced with is simple, this “autopilot” method of choosing isn’t a problem. However, when more complex decisions need to be made, not understanding the process can give rise to difficulties.
Take An Organized Approach To Decision Making
The key to making better decisions is to organize your decision making process. This is a necessary step because our brains are hardwired to make quick decisions based on what we’ve already experienced. This quick decision making process serves a two-fold purpose. First, when confronted by a life or death situation, being able to make a quick, as well as correct, decision is often the difference between life and death. Second, quick decision making conserves energy. When faced with a routine choice, it makes no sense to waste blood sugar to work through the individual steps involved in that decision. However, our evolutionary decision making processes do not serve us as well in the complexity of the modern world. While we often need to systematically think through our decisions, we do not always have the knowledge or understanding to do so. This is where an organized approach to decision making helps.
The first step to solving a modern problem is to create the right atmosphere in which to decide. It will take time to understand the ramifications of the choices involved in a complex decision. Make sure that you are putting aside enough time to properly consider these choices. This means knowing what goal you hope to achieve by making the proper choice. It also means understanding the criteria you will use to help you decide.
The next step is create as many possible options to choose from as you can. Them more varied the choices are, the more varied the solutions will be. When you have a number of various outcomes that may result from your choices, you have a better chance of choosing the options that will increase the odds of achieving the outcome you desire. Brainstorming is an excellent way of making sure all your choices are on the table at the time you make a decision.
Another step is to have a fall back plan. No one can predict the future. The more complex the problem that you must solve, the more this unpredictability rises. A “Plan B” is a great way to hedge against the risk this increased unpredictability brings. If your primary outcome falls through, you still can take advantage of you back up plan.
Finally, once you’ve made a choice, move forward with that decision. If you have organized your decision making process, you can have confidence that you’ve done everything possible to make a complex situation simple.
Making Better Personal Decisions
We make a lot of decisions in our lives. Some of these decisions are small. (What should I watch on TV?) and some of these decisions are big. (Should I take that job overseas?) However, the vast majority of these decisions, big or small, involve us personally. In other words, we are personally affected by the outcome of the various decisions we make. Since these outcomes can have both a positive and negative effect on our lives, it makes sense that each of us take the time to learn how to make better personal decisions.
We use our brains to make decisions. Unfortunately, our brains are the products of millions of years of development and evolution. In fact, we are still developing as species today. The thing is that this development proceeds like the remodeling of an old house.
In the beginning, there was the original house. Over time, a garage was added on. Then, a family room was put in on one side. A second storey was added. A fireplace was put in, etc. The point is the bones of the old house are still there, functioning, while surrounded by all the new additions.
Our brains are exactly like this. Things that developed a million years ago work right alongside things that developed ten thousand years ago. So just like the light sockets in the older part of the house are designed for a different era, so to the older parts of our brains. Yet, it is the whole brain that we utilize to make decisions today, decisions that affect us directly.
Scientists have estimated that the average person makes an average decision in less than ten seconds. Way back when, this was a good thing. When confronted by a life and death situation, you don’t really have the time to ponder your next move. However, this knee jerk decision making instinct may not be the best choice today. With many personal decisions, your best move is to take some time and think.
A primary step in learning how to become a better personal decision maker is to teach yourself to slow down and think about the decision that is facing you. With any decision, big or small, you need to take the appropriate amount of time to assess and weigh all the choices involved. It’s only when you look at all the angles and all the possible outcomes, that you can start making choices that increase your chances for positive results.
Making Better Financial Decisions
One of the areas in life in which good decision making skills are crucial is finance. Financial decisions are crucial because they involve money. It may be your own money. In which case, the risks of making bad decisions are obvious. It may also be someone else’s money. In which case, the risks of making bad decisions may be even more catastrophic. Let’s face it, financial decisions are, in some sense, life and death decisions. Making a poor financial choice may not cause an immediate loss of life, but the long term debilitating effects can be quit severe. Bad financial decision making can alter your future for the worse. This is why it is very important to develop the skills necessary to making better financial decisions.
Risk analysis is a useful tool to use when making financial decisions. It can help you to identify those investment strategies best able to turn a profit, as well as those that may cause you to lose money. With risk management, you take your time to brainstorm all potential risks that are a part of any financial decision, no matter how small. Once these risks are identified, you then rank the risks by the severity of their consequences. Finally, you again rank the risks, this time by the likelihood that they will occur. Doing this will allow you to identify which choices in a given decision involve the lowest probability, as well as the lowest potential harm. It can also help you manage your financial risk by identifying those risks that have a higher probability of occurring with a lower potential for harm. A choice that involves this type of risk may be worthwhile, especially if the returns on investment are high enough. In this way, risk analysis is a form of financial risk management.
Another useful tool to use when making financial decisions is a cost/benefit analysis (or “cba”). A cba can help you decide if a certain financial course of action is advisable. It does this by showing the potential costs, or risks, associated with a course of action, and compares them to the benefits that may accrue as a result, as well. A cba is fairly straightforward. You make a list of all the costs associated with a particular decision. You then make a list of all the benefits. You assign monetary values to all costs and benefits. You then add up the totals from both lists and divide the amount of the cost from the amount of the benefit. The resulting number is the amount of time it will take to see a profit if you decide on that particular financial course of action
Making Better Ethical Or Moral Decisions
We often assume that the most important or critical decisions in life involve material goods or monetary opportunities. Which car should I purchase? What type of home should I buy? Can I get a better paying job? Like a lot of assumptions, this one may be a mistake. That’s not to say that decisions that revolve around money or goods are unimportant or bad. It just that by focusing solely on these types of decisions, we may miss the opportunity to make decisions that are even more important and critical.
Ethical or moral decisions are sometimes much more important to the quality of life we lead than the decisions we make about money and the things we own. This is because the the very fabric of our lives is made up of or sense of ethics and morality. This ability to know right from wrong is extremely important. Without it, or without enough emphasis on its importance, we tend to become rudderless in the sea of life. We drift from one thing to another, never really sure if what we have is really what we want. This moral and ethical ambiguity can cause great unhappiness and hardship.
Ethics and morality consist of what we value most. They also consist of the ability to transfer these values, or the need for these values, onto others. This is not to say that we are forcing others to value what we value. Rather, it is a way of recognizing that our fellow human beings may share the same needs, desires and values that we do. In this way, moral thinking is a way of seeing beyond the self, and the needs of the self, and realizing the commonality of human existence and need. It is a way of seeing that we are more alike than different, and then valuing these similarities.
The best way to develop a improved ability to make ethical and moral decisions is to identify and quantify the things that are of value to you. The first step in this process is to think about the times when you were the happiest. Where were you? Who were you with? What were circumstances? What were you doing? The second step is to think about the times when you were the proudest. Again, what were the circumstances? What were you doing? Finally, think about the times you were most content/ Once again, where were you? What were you doing? When you ascertain the times and events that caused you to be happy, content and proud, you will have identified the things that make up your core values.