Getting better at decision making

Decisions are something that we make every day. Some decisions are simple, and some are complex. We spend days evaluating a complex decision. And our inability to come to a decision results in stress. As pending decisions increase, we feel more busy and stressed. Many of my friends ask my opinion when they cannot make decisions. I also sometimes take a long time to make certain decisions. Looking back, it feels lots of time there was over-analysis. These got me thinking, What makes a decision complex? Why are we unable to make decisions faster? I am writing this blog to share my thoughts and experience about it.

As Jeff Bezos wrote in shareholder letter:

"Some decisions are consequential and irreversible or nearly irreversible -- one-way doors -- and these decisions must be made methodically, carefully, slowly, with great deliberation and consultation. If you walk through and don't like what you see on the other side, you can't get back to where you were before. We can call these Type 1 decisions. But most decisions aren't like that -- they are changeable, reversible -- they're two-way doors. If you've made a sub-optimal Type 2 decision, you don't have to live with the consequences for that long. You can reopen the door and go back through. Type 2 decisions can and should be made quickly by high judgment individuals or small groups."

Even though the above quote was for business decisions, I feel the same is relevant to decisions in our life. We spend lots of time and energy making some decisions and sometimes are stuck in the analysis loop. Many of us, including myself, incorrectly categorize two-way door decisions as one-way doors.

I think there are two reasons why we do not make faster decisions. One, we are afraid of failure. Second, we try to predict the outcome with little data. Let's take an example of a common decision that everyone makes sometime in their career - Whether to change a job or stay in their current place. What do you think, is it a one-door or two-door decision? Give a thought before reading forward. Let's do the analysis. Below are some common thoughts while making this decision:

• If I change, I can find a better role and pay, but finding a new job is hard.
• My current team is good; I have gotten used to working here. If I change, I don't know how it would be at my new workplace.
• If I stay, there is a chance of me getting promoted in the next six months. But, the work has become monotonous.

There is "but" attached to every pro in our thoughts, and we are stuck in the loop. Let's now decide to change jobs. Once we have taken that decision, stress is gone, and only work remains. We start applying and preparing for the interviews. Now, we have more data - The number of job calls, offered pay, and role. Based on this, we can evaluate whether it is suitable for us to change jobs. If there aren't opportunities as we expected we could stay back. If we find a better opportunity, we can take it. It initially felt like a one-door decision, but now it has become a two-door decision. Even if we decide to stay back, we have learned what it takes to find a new job, and we can make better decisions next time.

Prioritization is another essential part of making an efficient decision, and most of us are very bad at it. We don't have to make all decisions now. It is essential to learn what decisions are necessary to make now versus later. We feel all the decisions are equally important and get stressed analyzing them. For example,

• We want to find a new job
• We also want to work towards a promotion at current job
• We want to achieve some fitness goals.
• We want to travel and visit places.

If we decide to take all four decisions simultaneously, we will be buried with lots of work and stress. All the above decisions are essential to take, but we can tackle them in a different order.

I like the 2 Minute Rule described in the blog - Atomic habits. The rule is - "When you start a new habit, it should take 2 minutes or less". A decision can be broken down into multiple minor decisions. A real example - I have been thinking about creating my website for the past year. But, I was never motivated enough to start working on it. I was stuck in an endless cycle of - What framework would I use? How would it look? What it will contain? Since making a website was not a mandatory thing for me, I could never prioritize to start working on it. After reading blog, I decided to buy a domain with my name. Since I purchased the domain, I have been curious to explore it. As a first step, I redirected it to my LinkedIn page. Next step, I hosted a website with a single page, "Coming soon." Later, I published a homepage with my photo and my current role, and another page with my work experience and projects. And, now I have my website www.shaileshgothi.com, where I have published two blogs within two months.

These are my learnings about the decision-making process. I am also getting better at it day by day and decision by decision. Let me know your thoughts, wisdom, and tricks about decision-making in the comment. Or, feel free to drop me an email at shaileshgothiece@gmail.com