How To Make a Confident Decision

May 27th, 2008         Email This Post Email This Post       Print This Post Print This Post

I have seen many people make decisions, but in the end, it doesn’t seem like they have actually made a firm decision. They go on to act with hesitation and constantly second-guess themselves. They fail to fully commit to their “decision” and make themselves crazy by constantly re-thinking their choice.
How can you make decisions with confidence? People try to reach a perfect decision that takes everything into account. But that’s impossible. We never have all the information, no matter how much time we spend. Instead of striving for perfection - which can drive us crazy - aim for a reasonable decision. With a reasonable amount of time to gather information, you can make a well-informed decision. It just generally isn’t worth the time or stress to put too much time into a decision making process. Once you have basic information for making a reasonable decision (i.e. one that wouldn’t be considered foolish) then make your decision and stick to it.
I notice this most often with daily decisions - which clothes to wear, which food to buy, which place to visit - ask for recommendations or get more info and just get it over with. If you would keep gather more information, are you even sure it would change your decision? Don’t agonize over it - it’s not worth it!
If something does go wrong - but you spent a reasonable amount of time researching or thinking, then rest assured that spending more time might not have made any difference. Also, most decisions don’t have such a big impact (think how much of an impact it will have in five years), and can usually be retried. Even if they can’t, would it even have justified more time gathering information?
If you follow this approach, you can follow up on your decisions with confidence. The confidence isn’t from a sure-fire knowledge that you are right - because you may be wrong. Rather, it’s from knowing that you made a SMART decision: you spent a reasonable amount of time gathering information and decided not to agonize over the decision.

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Posted in Courage, Planning, Principles, Problem Solving