Will I have coffee this morning or stumble around half asleep until noon?
Some decisions are easy. Others? Not so much.
Should we pursue a new joint venture? Which candidate should I hire? Is now the time to scale? Should I confront that employee over what they just did?
When the decisions become more complex, it helps to remember that every decision is actually made up of two distinct decisions. The decision in front of us is always preceded by the decision of what criteria to base it on. Often we aren't aware of deciding about the criteria because the situation unfolds so quickly. But it still happens.
Conscious decision: Should I speed up a little and run the yellow light?
Unconscious criteria: How close am I to the intersection? What's the likelihood of someone turning in front of me? Does there appear to be a police officer nearby? Can my car handle the additional acceleration at this speed? How late am I running?
The larger, more complex decisions are more difficult because there are too many potential criteria for us to process on instinct. The secret to good decision making is to consciously choose which criteria are most important and how they relate to our options.
If you'd like a (free) simple tool to help with this process send me an email. I'm happy to help.