Chocolate or strawberry? Life or death? We make some choices quickly and automatically, relying on mental shortcuts our brains have developed over the years to guide us in the best course of action, even as we deliberate over others almost endlessly. Understanding strategies—such as maximizing versus satisficing , fast versus slow thinking, and factors such as risk tolerance and choice overload—can lead to better outcomes.
The Art of Decision-Making
When making a decision, we form opinions and choose actions through mental processes that are influenced by biases, reason, emotions, and memories. The simple act of deciding supports the notion that we have free will . We can weigh the benefits and costs of our choice, and then cope with the consequences. Factors that can limit our ability to make good decisions include missing or incomplete information, urgent deadlines, and limited physical or emotional resources.
When people find themselves in a familiar situation, their decisions are often fast and automatic , based on long-term experience with what works and what doesn’t. However, when encountering a situation they’ve never been in before, they have to take time to weigh the potential benefits and risks when choosing a course of action—and are more likely to make mistakes and face negative consequences.
The ability to think critically is key to making good decisions without succumbing to common errors or bias . This means not just going with your gut, but rather figuring out what knowledge you lack and obtaining it. When you look at all possible sources of information with an open mind, you can make an informed decision based on facts rather than intuition .
A satisficing approach to making decisions involves settling for a good-enough outcome, even if it’s flawed. A maximizing approach, on the other hand, waits for conditions to be as perfect as possible to minimize potential risks. People who make good decisions know when it’s important to act immediately, and when there’s time to wait and gather more facts before making their choice.
How to Make Good Decisions
How do we choose between two or more options that seem equally appealing? Decision-making usually involves a mixture of intuition and rational thinking; critical factors, including personal biases and blind spots, are often unconscious , which makes the process hard to fully operationalize or get a handle on.
However, some steps can help ensure that people make consistently strong choices, including gathering as much information as possible, considering all the possible alternatives — as well as their attendant benefits and costs, and taking the time to sleep on weightier decisions.
In life, there is often no “right” decision. When surrounded by an abundance of options, it’s easy to experience decision paralysis or feel less satisfied with your decisions. You may even blame yourself when you're really just going through “choice overload.” The key is to find ways to simplify your decision and not ruminate over the many roads not taken.
Decision-making can be stressful , and follow-through is essential. You may need to accept that panic , fear , and lack of self-confidence will sometimes be part of the process. It’s crucial to get enough sleep. It helps you think clearly—keep your priorities straight, carefully weigh the trade-offs, commit to a decision—and then follow through on it.
How to Avoid Bad Decisions
The field of behavioral economics has demonstrated that people are not always rational when making decisions. Fortunately, most personal and professional choices have few or no long-term, negative consequences. However, sometimes a person has to make a decision that will have a profound impact on their future—from who they marry to where they live to how they manage their professional career . In these cases, it’s important to avoid the common pitfalls that can lead to poor decision-making . These can include doing too little or too much research, mistaking opinions for facts, decision fatigue, a failure to learn from past errors, and more.
Don’t try to coax them into a decision you would make, or railroad them into simply acting quickly if they are vacillating about an important question. Rather, help them cultivate qualities of mind that will serve them beyond the moment, and encourage them to think through their options by simply and respectfully asking questions.
There are two types of rationalization that people commonly engage in: prospective and retrospective. Prospective rationalizing refers to rationalizing a decision before making it, while retrospective rationalizing refers to rationalizing a decision after the fact.
In the 2000s, Barry Schwartz coined the phrase the paradox of choice to describe the fact that American consumers have so many choices from which to choose that they often waste time and mind-space second-guessing themselves and comparing trivial differences .
Explore More About Decision-Making
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