Let's Make Better Decisions Today

Based on several studies, the average number of decisions made by an adult each day is around an astonishing 35,000! Assuming that we are asleep for 8 hours a day, that works out to about 36 decisions per minute!

Your life is the sum result of all the choices you make, both consciously and unconsciously.
- Robert Foster Bennett

Take a moment and reflect upon the decisions you have made just for today. If given an opportunity, would you have made some of those choices differently?

Looking back further, were there times when your choices had negatively affected not only your life, but also to those that mattered to you? Would you then be interested in making better decisions in life?

The World Today

Our economy has changed radically with the advent of technology. It has come a long way since the industrial revolution where work mainly consists of repetitive processes, often carried out independently. Today, the repetitive processes are progressively taken over by automation, leaving us with work that requires higher levels of strategy – think interaction and decision making. Industry experts have also cited our gradual transition into a project economy, where value and services are created by organisations through successful completion and implementation of projects. This transition highlights greater importance for us to make good decisions, be it at the strategic level or during our day to day interaction with different stakeholders.

With the help of the Internet and the prevalence of a smartphone, we are now more connected than ever before. At a tap, vast amounts of actions and messages can be made virtually, creating tremendous reach and impact in society. Hence, the ability to make better choices today is more important than ever before.

Self-Awareness

Between stimulus and response is a space. In that space, lies our freedom and power to choose our response.
- Stephan Covey

Let us begin with an aspect that we have 100% control over – ourselves. As we process external stimuli, how and when we respond is within our control. However, more often than not, we choose to react unconsciously because it is a faster and easier process for our brain. In one of my previous post, I discussed in greater detail the negatives of simply reacting instead of making conscious responses.

Being self conscious of our emotions is a crucial step because they affect our thought processes, which then influences the actions we make. There are many frameworks that we can refer to, to raise our self-awareness and avoid making emotionally driven decisions. But here is a general framework that has worked well for me:

• Identify and acknowledge my current emotion(s)
• Remind myself of the poor decisions made under the influence of such emotion(s)
• Center myself by pausing and taking deep breathes prior to taking any action

Self-awareness is a muscle that can be trained and strengthened over time. By identifying my emotions and the common mistakes that arise from them, I consciously take time to reflect and recall my past experiences. Although this may appear to be time consuming, these processes will get faster overtime with practice. And only with that mental clarity, can I proceed to look at the situation as objectively as possible, before making a choice that I can stand by with confidence.

Open-mindedness

Have you experienced a situation where you had conflicting views with someone, stuck to your decision and found out that the other option would have yielded a better outcome? It is intentional that I did not mention whose view was right or wrong. Too often are we interpreting events using a binary perspective, and life isn't always that straight forward.

With a simple challenge of getting into the city, which mode of transport would be faster? If you thought that driving or hailing a taxi would be the straight forward answer, think again! Had it been rush hour, unfortunate accidents along the highways, or major road diversions due to a large scale event, the railway would have been the faster option. Not implying that railways won't experience interruption, but what I am trying to impress upon you is that the context of the situation will determine which option would be more ideal. And the key to understanding the context, is to be open minded.

There will be limitations in our knowledge and how we interpret situations happening around us can have inherent biases. It is therefore crucial to not rush into matters without making an intentional effort to explore other alternatives, either by seeking the opinion of others or through your individual research. With the willing to entertain conflicting views and the humility to learn from others, you will gradually broaden your wealth of knowledge for better decision making.

Inspire Others

There is much more to making better decisions just for yourself. There is a saying: “Treat a man as he is and he will be. Treat a man as he should be and he will be.”. It's like a self fulfilling prophecy. The way you treat someone can influence him or her to become a better or worse version of themselves. When my friends recognise and acknowledge that I am meticulous and a reliable person to work with, it inspires me to strive for quality work every time. As a result, I am able to observe my consistent growth professionally and personally in terms of how I live by my values and beliefs.

Were there times when others believed in you and you worked harder to live up to their standards? The choices you make, the words you say to someone, can have life changing impacts. Remember, that you can choose to make a positive influence on others by recognising their strengths, potential and by believing in them.

Concluding

35,000 decisions a day. Now you know that between stimulus and response, you have the power to think and decide on a response. Practice being self conscious before making any decisions, and seek to appreciate and understand the values and perspectives of others first. With greater clarity on how you perceive the world, better judgements and actions can be made. And these can create positive influences on others, inspiring them to greater heights.

Remember, the choice is yours to make!