Decision making is a tough job and we sometimes end up making bad decisions. Here are four reasons we make bad decisions and how we can counter them.
Decision fatigue
We make a lot of little and big decisions on an everyday basis, which means we can get tired of making them. Even the most energetic people don’t have endless mental energy to take all decisions perfectly.
To counter it, identify the most important decisions you need to make, and, as often as possible, prioritize your time so that you make them when your energy levels are highest.
Multi-tasking
There aren’t many jobs left in the world today that don’t need at least some multi-tasking. While that’s the reality, research shows that performance, including decision-making, suffers by up to 40% when we focus on two tasks at the same time.
What you can do is that when you need to make an important decision(s), carve out some time during the day to completely focus on it and then make a decision.
Emotions
Experiencing frustration, excitement, anger, joy, etc., are the basic part of the daily human experience. And while these emotions have a meaningful role in our lives and they hinder our ability to make good decisions especially during moments of peak anger and happiness.
To counter this, pay attention to your emotional state and resist the temptation to respond to people or make decisions while you’re emotionally upset. Practice walking away from the computer or putting the phone down, and return to the task when you’re calm.
Analysis paralysis
The more information we have to consider, the longer we normally take to make a decision. While the decision-making process should be thorough, the best way to make good decisions is usually not to take more time or to look at more information. Instead, review the relevant and important information you need, set a deadline to make a decision, and then stick to it.
