Try This Decision Making Process

Not sure what to do? Try the following seven step decision making process the next time you need to make up your mind about something important. And take notes!

1. What are your immediate intuitive feelings?

Make a few notes about your immediate "gut reaction." For example, if you're not sure whether to take a particular job, ask the question, "Should I take this job?" Then jot down whatever comes to mind and how you feel about it.

2. Analyze your intuition.

Even the most intuitive people can't trust their intuition all the time. At best, intuition is the use of all the unconscious information and experience you have. At its worst, it is just feelings based on faulty thinking, greed or fear. Look for these other motivations before relying too heavily on intuition. You want the intuition that is simply an efficient use of your unconscious resources.

3. Gather information.

With or without any intuition, you should always gather information before making a decision. Take notes. Even for a decision like where to go for vacation, you can write down the costs of the various choices, and what things you'll be able to do at each destination.

4. Look at the pros and cons.

What is good about each possible choice, and what is not so good? Write these things down. For any uncertainties, good or bad, write a note about whether the risk or possible reward is "not very likely," "likely," or "very likely."

5. Consider worst and best cases.

For each possible choice, consider the worst that could happen, and the best that could happen. Which is more likely? How do the various options appear when considered this way?

6. Revisit with intuition.

Review the information you have gathered, and everything else that you have considered. Then make a few notes about how you think and feel about your choices now. This is an important next-to-last step in the decision making process.

7. Choose and act immediately, then adjust course if necessary.

You can be slow about gathering and analyzing information. But at this point - after your second intuitive assessment - it's best to make a decision quickly. Any decision making process should lead inexorably to a decision, or else you are actually training yourself to be indecisive - which isn't very useful, and can be very stressful.

Once a decision is made, you should also act immediately, even if this is some small step. For example, if you decide to write a book, you should turn on the computer and write the first line, or put the pen and paper on the desk. Immediate action trains your mind to treat your decisions as meaningful, and not just wishful thinking. It is an important part of the whole decision making process.