If you are one of those who are not good at making decisions and feel confused when having to choose between two or more things, do not worry, here are the top 10 ways that will reduce the hesitation in your daily life activities and can help you develop your decision-making skills.
How to Develop Good Decision-Making Skills: Top 10 Ways
When thinking about the most successful people, we often attribute their success to their ability to make the right decisions, as this ability plays a critical role in their business, career, and even personal life.
Although some believe that decision-making is an innate skill that an individual is born with, in fact, it is a learned skill that develops and grows with training and practice.
Decision-making is one of the essential life skills that can help you make more deliberate, thoughtful decisions by organizing relevant information and defining alternative solutions.
Decision-making skills can include many steps, which you can take all or some of the steps, depending on the problem you are thinking of solving.
To solve any type of problem, identify the problem or challenge and opportunity that you are seeking to solve, make a list that compiles all the suggested solutions to this problem, weigh all the costs, pros, and cons of each of the options before you, choose only one solution from all available solutions and evaluate the impact of this decision that you have chosen, and to make any adjustments and changes you deem necessary, and follow all or some of these steps until you succeed in making decisions properly.
To develop decision-making skills, you can take these steps:
- Gathering all sufficient information on the topic.
- Taking enough time to make a decision.
- Comparing the pros and cons of the decision.
- Trying to narrow down your options.
- Avoiding making decisions that are charged or based on emotions.
- Using past experiences as a guideline.
- Asking others for better advice.
- Learning to manage conflict and differences.
- Focusing on your priorities.
- Developing a strategic plan for the future
We will explain all these matters in detail in the coming points, in order to identify the steps that help in developing decision-making skills in a large and clear way.
10 Ways to Improve Your Decision-Making Skills
Every day we make hundreds of small decisions that may not be important for example what to wear, what to eat, where to go, how to go, and much more. Most of us take these decisions in a second because they are easy decisions and their results will not change our future.
Sometimes making a decision is difficult because of the many options available to you, so you need to improve your decision-making skills.
The following ways can help you improve decision-making skills and reduce hesitation in your daily life.
1. Gather enough information about the situation:
Before you start thinking about making a particular decision, make sure you first understand all the factors and aspects related to the issue or problem.
Talk to relevant parties, and gather enough information you need. But never make a decision without being fully aware of the whole issue.
When it comes to making decisions such as buying a new cell phone or laptop, and a new car, you must first gather information about the product that you will buy, know the pros and cons of this product as well as the advantages and disadvantages of other competing products, and then choose the best appropriate solutions for you.
2. Take enough time to make a decision:
Sometimes you may feel that you are in a hurry to make a certain decision, but some of these decisions are big and important, and even critical.
Do not rush into such a situation, take the time to think about it, remember that you do not have to make a decision before you are ready for it enough. But don’t put it off either, arguing that you’re not ready yet. The idea is to balance the two situations to make the right decision at the right time.
But if you want to make simple decisions like deciding where to go to lunch or eat it in front of the TV screen, then you should not waste too much time on these small decisions. This is related to the importance of the decision to you. If it does not affect you or others in an important way, do not waste your time discussing many simple options.
There has to be a time to discuss decisions and another time when you have to be steadfast. If you do not take a firm stance on the decision, you will waste a lot of time trying to make the decision instead of enjoying its results.
3. Compare the pros and cons of your decision:
Before reaching the final decision, it is important to make a balance between the pros and cons to ensure that the best possible decision is taken. You have to analyze the cost and benefits of this decision and study the consequences of the decision, whether positive or negative.
Comparing the pros and cons of your decision will help you to know the advantages of alternative opportunities, or the things that you will lose when choosing one decision over another.
For example, let’s say that you want to get an additional job after the end of your official working hours in your current job. But you haven’t made a firm decision yet.
And suppose that you have an assignment at your job that you need to complete before the end of the week, and your friends ask you to accompany them on an outing. You really want to go, but if you do, you will be late for your assignment. Here you have to look at the consequences of your decision in the short and long term alike. If you decide to go, you’ll have some fun for a while, but that pleasure fades away when you find yourself under too much pressure to finish the task, and you may not be able to complete it in time, which may cost you your job.
If you think about it this way, you will most likely make the right decision and not regret it in the future.
4. Try to narrow down your options:
Stay away from the black or white way of thinking, life is full of gray areas. You might think that you only have two options to solve a particular problem or decide on a situation, but that’s not true. There are thousands of solutions to every problem, and many ways to deal with any situation. You can consider alternative solutions and options, including those that involve some compromise or concessions.
But narrowing your options is the best solution to make the right decision without worry. While making decisions, some have too many options, without thinking about which one was the best suitable for them, which causes them to regret their decisions later. So, try to reduce the options available to you, as having too many options in front of you makes it difficult to make a decision, more options can lead to more regret in the future.
5. Avoid making emotionally charged decisions:
If you are emotionally invested in the situation or problem in front of you, your thinking can become clouded and lead you to make the wrong decisions.
Avoid hasty thinking. Instead, use rational thinking. Think about facts rather than your own feelings and desires.
Immediate emotional reactions to making a decision are never a good idea and can lead to worse outcomes. So, remove all prejudicial factors that may influence your choices, try to balance your emotions, integrate emotions with reason, and let your heart and mind work together.
6. Use your past as a guideline:
While making decisions, use your past experience as a guideline but don’t let the mistakes of the past hold you back.
It may not always work to think about what you chose in the past. Every situation is different, so take a moment to focus on your past experiences, not your failures, before making your decision.
The biggest obstacle to making the right decision is the effect of past mistakes on you. So make the decision without focusing on past mistakes and failures. Living with the aftermath of a decision may harm your ability to make decisions quickly and efficiently in the future. But if you use your past as a guideline, you can make a more informed decision.
7. Do not hesitate to ask for help from others:
You not only rely on gathering information about the product you want to buy, but it is also important to seek the opinion of another person who can help you make a sound decision and give you some confidence and reassurance while making the decision. Whether it’s asking an auto mechanic about buying a car or a colleague who has the same type of product you’re going to buy, informed opinions are very helpful.
It is also necessary that you do not feel that you are the only ones responsible for making these decisions, and this applies to decisions about work or home and family, you must consult others. Especially if the people you will consult have an experience that makes them ready for that, and you should not be ashamed when you take some group decisions that relieve stress and tension on you.
Sometimes group decisions are better than individual ones, because they distribute responsibility to a large number of individuals, and it is also possible to suggest a solution that is not available to some.
8. Learn to manage conflict and differences:
Making decisions with a group may complicate the decision-making process, as the presence of more than one person to take the decision may increase the possibilities of conflict. Therefore, it is good to be able to manage this conflict and contain different points of view. With the need for concessions, such as when one of the parties gives up what he wants to satisfy the other, or in other cases, such as sharing housing when the two parties agree to give up some things in order to agree on other things.
When you have to make a group decision it is best to know the details ahead of time in order to avoid conflict between group members.
It is a good idea before deciding to spend a day with this group in the cinema or dinner together, as this may help improve the decision-making skill of everyone who will participate and reduce the possibility of disagreements between the group.
9. Focus on your priorities:
When you make a decision, make sure to rank your priorities related to that decision from most important to least important.
How long does it take to make a decision? ten seconds? Ten minutes? Ten hours or more? It all depends on how important the decision is to you. And to get rid of your hesitation, find out how important the decision is (how much will it affect your life? How much will it cost you?),
When you fully understand what is most important to you in this situation, you can set a deadline for making a decision accordingly, the decision-making process will become easier for you.
10. Develop a strategic plan for the future:
Your future success depends on effective strategic planning, so make a strategic plan ahead to defend your future.
You can not make a plan for every possible scenario but you can control certain areas in your life where you can prepare in advance.
Planning ahead is a way to express who you are and what is important to you in the future. If you plan ahead, you can reduce the number of decisions you need to make. As a result, you will not experience decision stress and you will have much time and energy to make more sound decisions.
Always make a contingency plan, so you’re not surprised. When you are ready for the problems you may face, your stress will decrease, and you will be more able to make any decision without fear of the consequences because you have prepared for them in advance.
Always remember, there is nothing that cannot be fixed, no matter what decision you make.
Do not give up, and immediately start creating your future with your own hands through your decisions.
