Ever find yourself between two choices, having no clue which one you’ll use to reach where you’re going? If you’re switching careers, recovering from a personal crisis, or guiding a team through a crisis situation, good decision-making skills can be your lifeline.
Today, when everything is happening at light speed, trusting your decisions isn’t just important, but critical. The great news is that decision-making is like a muscle that you can build, calibrate, and even actually make stronger. With the right techniques, you can still do the second-guessing and start making decisions that feel crystal clear and right from the very start.
Here, in this article, we’re diving into six effective strategies for better decision-making. Let’s get started.
1. Clarify Your Goals Before You Decide
You can take a step back before jumping into any decision and ask yourself: What do I really want? Amazingly, we find ourselves swept up in decisions without having had our goals established. Whether you’re dealing with a personal dilemma or a business initiative, knowing your final goal helps filter out distractions and will make you concentrate on your decision.
Attempt to sort your goals into short-term and long-term objectives. That’s how you will know if a certain choice brings you nearer to your vision or whether you will get lost in it. When you’re clear with your “why,” determining the “what” and “how” becomes a whole lot easier.
2. Embrace Technology to Make Smarter Choices
We live in a time when technology and tools can make the hassle of decision-making much easier. From data analysis programs to basic decision makers, digital assistance can really help. These tools can assist in eliminating bias, making it simpler in terms of options, or even allow team-based decisions to be made that are simple.
You no longer have to rely on instinct responses, which occasionally prove to be incorrect. For instance, with a reliable picker wheel, you can resort to making random decisions when and if you become stuck or stumped between options that are equally gratifying. It’s a tiny step, yes, but one that can, theoretically, make a monument difference, particularly in cases of shortage or the urgency of achieving equitable outcome instantly. Embracing technology isn’t about eliminating your judgment altogether; it’s about getting help when you’re totally stuck.
3. Practice the Power of Pausing
One of the most useful things you can do when you’re under pressure is to just hit pause. It’s not the most natural option—especially when you’re under pressure and it feels like everything is urgently clinging for your help. The first instinct is to hurry, as most people think speed will translate to quality. But rushing isn’t always helpful, and sometimes it does the opposite. Taking a step back—breathing, thinking, taking a moment—can very often lead to much more thoughtful decisions.
Even putting down in writing what you are thinking or talking the situation over with someone else can make you realize things that you might not have noticed while being in the midst of it, especially when emotions are running high. Slowing down makes your brain shift out of reaction mode and into actually thinking clearly, and you end up making decisions that aren’t just smarter, but also in line with what’s really important to you.
4. Learn from Previous Decisions (both Good and Bad)
Every decision you’ve made has taught you something that you can rely on. The key is to take the time to look back and reflect. Ask yourself what worked, what didn’t, and what you’d do differently so the result can be much better. Mistakes aren’t failures—they’re feedback that can help improve the current situation. And your successes? They’re proof of what’s possible when you’re aligned with your instincts and informed by experience.
Keep a journal or mental log of the major decisions you’ve made and their outcomes. Over time, there will be habits formed that will reveal your strengths and blind spots to you. Experience-based learning not only builds confidence but also allows you to improve your decision-making technique for the future.
5. Challenge Your Own Biases
We all have mental shortcuts—so-called biases—that enable us to make quick decisions. But sometimes, those shortcuts can mislead us. Confirmation bias, for instance, causes us to favor information that supports what we already believe in, and anchoring bias causes us to over-rely on the first piece of information that comes to our mind.
To become a better decision-maker, you must be comfortable questioning yourself and your assumptions. Go ahead and ask yourself, What if I’m wrong? Or better yet, get some opposing views from others before making a decision. The more you practice questioning your thinking, the more you’ll be able to make balanced and objective decisions that work for you.
6. Trust Your Instincts—But Have Them Backed Up
Intuition always has a bad reputation, but it can be a wonderful asset if combined with some logic. Your gut is literally your brain comparing patterns and experiences in blink-and-you-miss-it time. Still, it shouldn’t be your sole reference point. A good decision-maker is able to balance intuition with some deep research. So if it feels right, take a moment to look into why it feels right.
What evidence does it have to back it up? What are the risks? This all-sided approach—considering both instinct and logic—can potentially yield bolder and more trustworthy outcomes. Remember, it’s not about ignoring your gut, but backing it up with facts so that you’re making smart, not reckless, decisions.
Making good decisions doesn’t mean you’ll always pick the perfect option—and that’s completely okay. What really matters is showing up to each moment with a bit more confidence, clarity, and self-awareness. Even when things feel messy or uncertain, you’ve still got what it takes to keep going. As you get to know yourself better, utilize helpful tools, and give yourself the time to actually process things, you’ll find that you are more capable of coming to challenging situations with a calmer, clearer mind. So the next time you’re trying to make a hard decision, just pause and breathe. You will definitely come up with something that you were looking for.