The Art of Deciding

bydonherby

214 followers

6 years ago

The Art of Deciding

As human beings, we are constantly in the process of making decisions. Some research suggests that humans make up to 35,000 decisions per day, 200 are over food alone. Everything from “should I sit down or keep standing” to “who should I hire out of these 3 excellent applicants?”, make up the thousands of conscious, and more often, unconscious daily decisions.

Business Decisions

As business owners, it is beneficial to understand decision making. First, becoming conscious of our decision making process will lead to more personal and business related success. Second, we want to understand the decision making process of our consumers, specifically the demographics we are targeting.

These are two very different approaches. As business owners we want to make carefully selected and well contemplated decisions but, when it comes to our customers, we want them to make fast and emotional choices.

Decisions and Self Control

Let’s talk about making decisions for ourselves:

The key is self control. In general, fast business decisions can be dangerous and can jeopardize our success. Quick decisions are often made when we are pushed, or when we think that this is our only opportunity, needing to be taken immediately.

Sir Richard Branson (British Business Mastermind) once said, “Opportunities are like buses, they keep coming.” This statement is not only true, but it also addresses the importance of not jumping into the first opportunity out of fear. The best practice is to do our home-work and look at the different ways our decision can impact our business.

An excellent exercise is the “what if” activity. Try to predict the outcome for each decision you can make. It is also good to involve trusted people in important business decisions and get other opinions that can broaden your horizon. Over time we get better at deciding, by looking back and learning from our past mistakes. Remember the decisions that were not beneficial to you and what led you to these choices. By doing so, you will become a better decision maker.

Decisions and Consciousness

Part of self-control is consciousness. Be aware. Make your decisions with a conscious mind. Experiments with children have shown that children who have self control know how to distract themselves, so they can resist temptation. For example, resisting one marshmallow for a future, larger prize.

Delayed Gratification

For us, the distraction to not jump into a business decisions is doing the research on the potential consequences. This is considered Delayed Gratification. We make fast decisions because we expect Instant Gratification, but often if we take time to research and think, the gratification is often significantly higher.

Let’s use a business deal as an example. If we take our time to learn, instead of jumping on the first offer, we may become better negotiators and can save ourselves money by improving our benefits. The possibility of losing the deal should never be the reason for jumping into it. If someone else gets the deal, remember that there’s always another bus.

Emotions

Emotions play a huge role in decision making. Studies have shown that even in the highest manager and CEO positions decisions are often made based on emotions. Emotions need to be controlled by our conscious mind. There we can analyse them and bring them to the reasoning mind. Involving other people for second opinions can be a huge help to identify personal emotions that might affect our choices.

As marketers, we want to address the emotions of our potential customers.

Pressure

Sometimes we have to make decisions under pressure. The pressure can trigger feelings of fear, anxiety, or anger. Most of us, if not trained for it, make bad decisions under those influences. We can become resistant to these pressures by practicing “deliberate calm”. In these situations we need to remind ourselves, consciously and deliberately, to stay calm. The calmness will help us make a better decision.

Hard decisions

Hard decisions occur when we do our research, play out our ‘what ifs’ and the decisions are still not clear. These decisions evidently have to be made with what we call the “gut feel”. Listening to the gut feel takes practice, and develops over time. Listening to the gut feel takes silence and undisturbed moments.

After the decision

Once a decision has been made, it is extremely important to stick with it and not turn back. The worst thought is: “maybe I should have decided differently”. This way of thinking will not lead to success. We have to trust our decisions and pull them through.

It is often the case that after making a decision we feel doubt, possibly because something unforeseen happens, and we get distracted. Stick with the plan and pull it through. Move on to the next decision. Over time we will find that we make better and better decisions. Never let anyone tell you that your decision was a mistake. Only you know your decision process and gut feel, you know how you have to adjust if unforeseen circumstances occur. These unforeseen events could also have happened if you had decided otherwise. At the end, your mind controls it.

Best decisions

One of the best and simplest decisions to make is to want something. Make a conscious decision of what you want in your life and then work towards it. The fact that you made a decision to have it will help you become successful in getting or achieving it.

Decision making is a fascinating process and ultimately shapes our lives. Be aware of the important things that need thorough consideration. Let the small decisions be and don’t waste time on which type of burger to order…