Six Tips to Improve your Decision-making Skills Now!

In this blog, let’s find out how to improve decision-making skills and make better personal as well as professional decisions.

There are many difficult situations in life. At such times, we do not know what to do; which option to choose from the many possibilities.

When you have to deal with such a situation; it is essential to think about what can be done to polish decision-making skills. Not all the possible options can get us out of the problem or rather it may have the reverse effect. So, choosing the correct one is nothing but “decision-making!!”

One thing that is essential for decision-making skills – is that it should neither be made in haste nor be delayed. Planning, coordination, organisation and control are crucial functions of management. The success of all these activities depends on the right decision in any industry or business.

According to Peter Drucker, “Every management process is based on a decision.”

Evaluation of the manager’s work depends on its decision-making skills. Profit and loss in business are also dependent on decision-making. The decision-making process is an intellectual activity. From the strengths and experience of our intelligence, the managers make unusual things easy and make the right decisions. That is why it is said, that the life of the manager is decision-making.

George Terry says “Decision making is the selection based on some criteria from two or more possible alternatives.”

Broadly we can categorise the decisions into different types as below:

1)    Personal Decision

2)    Group Decision

3)    Committee Decision

4)    Organisational Decision

You have to make decisions at every step of life be it as a child, as a student, as a professional or as a member of a family. Failure in taking the right decision could lead you to a big mess in life.

Commitment, continuity or regularity, evaluation of work and rationality are fundamental building blocks of the right decision making. A decision could be sometimes adverse or favourable; it is necessary to note the correct changes and suggestions for the success of choice.

Researchers say that there are things that can help you make more reason based and accurate and less impulsive and emotion-based decision.

Here are a few of them for you to consider:

1. Think of yourself as a fly on the wall

Detach yourself from the situation and think about the problem as an outsider. You might have noticed that having a first-person’s perspective on an issue makes you less likely to have rational reasoning. Wise reasoning includes considering others’ view, thinking about compromises and different ways the scenario could unfold.

2. Stay in the present and cut your losses

Meditation helps in being in the present and reduces your focus on past and future. The psychological shift leads to less negative emotions, which facilitates the ability to let go of the sunk cost.

3. Think of another language

Thinking of a problem in your native tongue ties you to it emotionally and it becomes difficult to think of a solution rationally. Try thinking about the situation in any other language. That helps you to disconnect yourself from the situation and think more reasonably.

4. Cultivate your emotional intelligence

Emotional intelligence can help you not to allow your emotions to influence your independent decisions. And this applies to both negative ones (like stress and anxiety) and positive ones (like excitement).

5. Consider your environment

Colour of the light and its brightness amplifies both negative and positive emotions. And it leads to affecting your rational decision-making process as well. Research studies prove that bright light intensifies the way we react initially to a different kind of stimulus including people and product. In a brightly lit room, a fictional character may seem more aggressive, the sauce may taste spicier and people more attractive in comparison to a dimmer place.

6. Take a moment before making a decision

Thinking for a few seconds before making a decision could help you improve your decision-making skills accuracy. That few seconds help the brain to focus attention on the most relevant information and block out irrelevant distractors.

How to take smart decisions?

Experts have done a lot of research on how to make smart decisions.

James Clear decision-making guide has some unique tools for better decision making. According to him, human beings are well known for logical and balanced decision making.

However, in a recent study, it has been discovered that there are mental errors which may affect our decision making power. Sometimes our little brain makes a small mistake called as “illusory correlation.” It means perceiving a relationship between two entities without the actual existence of the relationship. This will happen when we overemphasise one thing and ignore the other side of it.

In short, decision-making skills can be enhanced by keeping an understanding of balanced thoughts, mental stability, calm attitude and positive impact.