Four Ideas To Improve Your Decision-Making Skills

Hello everyone, today we will talk about ideas to support decision making. 

1. Make sure to “intuit the truth” 

Start with a list of people who should know what you are considering, and an estimation of their cost in energy to lose what you are considering, if you make the decision. Make a weighting of those possible reactions based on the costs to others and the consequences that you know that the decision may have. Stop making assumptions. What if this decision might upset someone, or create more problems? Who or what might benefit or be harmed? Who or what might win? Who might lose? This is the essence of “intuition” or “perceiving the truth.” Get rid of all that you cannot know, all your assumptions, to get to that truth. Make decisions that minimize friction, (or in other words, create the least friction possible) and then pick one of your options.

2. Eliminate distractions

Deliberation will lead to better decisions, but the decisions won’t be as effective if you’re constantly on social media, messaging with team members, or answering emails. Remove all distractions that could consume your time, even television, podcasts, or music. If you’re in an environment where you’re under pressure, it can also lead to you procrastinating and this can be detrimental. You need to disconnect completely. Decide and commit to your decision immediately. Be ruthless about your decision as long as it keeps making the most sense. It’s hard to make a good decision. Some change your life or can be the decider of your future. You need to commit to your decision and follow through—especially when you don’t have time to hesitate or contemplate.

3. Define your criteria for what you will and will not do

At the outset, you need to be clear about what decisions you are allowed to make in your business. You should define how your decisions will impact the success of your startup, and how your decisions will impact other stakeholders in your business, such as customers, employees, investors, vendors, etc. To make decisions, you need to focus on what matters most to you, while ignoring everything else. There is one reason that you should consider ignoring anything that does not directly impact you, the company, customers, or investors. That reason is that what you focus on will either work or it won’t, and you will notice the difference quickly. Treat your time like a limited resource; especially if you are only a few weeks into your startup when you are probably too new to trust anyone else to make decisions about your company.

4. Focus on consequences as much as benefits

It can be daunting to make a decision at times. It can be hard to see the big picture. How will the decision you make impact the company? Will your team think you are right? Are you making the best decision for your company? Or do you not have enough information? These are questions that get to the heart of the decision-making process. Without solving the underlying problem or understanding the consequences of your decisions, you are bound to go wrong. Examine how decisions made in the past affect you now. What do you want to do? What would happen if you made a different decision? What would you gain, if you made the decision now? What would you lose if you wait to make the decision? How are decisions made? Chances are that you have done lots of research on all most things related to your business, it just takes a little extra effort to utilize turn insights into decisions.

5. Always have a plan B when making decisions

To succeed, one has to be right some of the time—not all of the time. When things don’t go according to plan, you need to know what to do next, and if you don’t know what to do next, start with admitting that your original decision was the wrong decision. This will at least give you some direction. Sounds basic, but most entrepreneurs make decisions without a plan B, and this is something that they should be aware of. To avoid this, always visualize your set of options before you make your original decision. Then, pick the one you are more confident about but make sure to have a backup plan already laid out on the board.

Conclusion

It is important for startup founders to encourage themselves. This may be especially difficult after making wrong choices or when one of your decisions cost your startup dearly. It is important that you stay grounded and present. Admit to your mistakes as early as you can, don’t be afraid to be vulnerable in front of your team or investors. You learn as much as you make mistakes.

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