“People are afraid of making decisions because they’re trying to find the perfect answer, and there is no perfect answer,” says Gary Klein
People usually make decisions in one of two ways: They analyze the pros and cons, or they go with their gut instincts. Klein recommends a combination of these methods, in this order:
- Get in touch with your gut first. Once you start listing pros and cons, your rational mind will drown out your intuition. Klein defines intuition as the accumulation of experience converted to flash-fast thinking. To uncover your intuitive point of view, you can even flip a coin—not to make the decision for you, but so you can register your gut reaction to the result. How do you feel when one option drops out? If you’re disappointed, ask yourself why.
- Open up the options and visualize each one. Doing research is obviously valuable, but sometimes the fear of making a mistake can keep you researching beyond the point of productivity. On the flip side, the hunger for the relief of making a decision, any decision, can keep you from doing enough legwork. Without overdoing it, brainstorm a lot of options.
- Banish vague fears, such as “It may be a mistake,” and instead try to see yourself in a specific scenario. Ask yourself concrete questions about the possible outcome: What’s the worst that could happen? What would I do then? Could I live with that?
- Let go of the idea of the perfect answer. You cannot possibly get all the info, nor can you foretell the future and calculate all the risks. Chill out. “The harder a decision is to make, the closer the outcomes are to each other, and the less it matters,” says Klein. “If you are agonizing over different resorts in Hawaii, you’re just beating yourself up. There is never a guarantee that you’re making the right decision. Just accept that.”
- Trust yourself. Improve your intuition by examining your decisions after you’ve made them. Look at whether you would do it the same way again.
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