A Simple Trick For Better Decision Making – The Startup – Medium


Een eenvoudige truc voor een betere besluitvorming

Het leven zit vol met keuzes. Sommige zijn relatief eenvoudig, zoals wat ze elke dag aan het werk moeten dragen. Anderen zijn uitdagender en tot nadenken stemmend, zoals het bepalen van je 5-jarige carrièreplan.

Wat de meeste mensen missen is een proces om deze beslissingen op een duidelijke en zelfverzekerde manier te nemen. Dit betekent dat je je ego, emoties en andere afleidingen uit je dagelijkse besluitvormingsproces moet verwijderen.

Recently, I was given a tip on this topic that’s really helped me out. It was from a high-performance psychologist who has tested this among the likes of the US military, professional athletes and major corporations.

Hopefully it can help you to choose the right outfit tomorrow and, more importantly, with the decisions that truly define your future.

Here’s The Trick

Take a decision you’re struggling with and look at it in three ways:

1. Picture the absolute worst case scenario of what may happen — be dramatic. Do you get fired? Do you lose all of your money? Go homeless? Experience injury or even death? Write it down.

2. Picture the absolute best case scenario of what may happen — again, be dramatic. Does this change your life? Does it make you rich? Help you fall in love? Be the one thing you’ve always been looking for in life? Write it all down again.

3. Now, picture the most likely scenario of what will happen — let’s be realistic. This will fall somewhere between idea #1 and idea #2. It doesn’t mean that this scenario will absolutely happen, but it’s a good framework to see the reality of your situation.

This is a simple way to remove your ego from the decision-making process. You’re likely to realize that any exaggerated story in your head (positive or negative) is likely fabricated.

I find it to be really important to detach and look at decisions as realistically as possible. Don’t let your emotions affect your judgment and you are likely to see things more clearly.

No one knows more about removing ego than Alex and Ana Dorr, who are practitioners of Reality-Based Leadership. Check out our podcast below to learn how to remove your ego with daily discipline.

“Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional." ― Haruki Murakami

Want To Bring Your Game To The Next Level?

Listen to TR Talk Podcast


...

About the Author

Tom Alaimo (@TomAlaimo_TTGT) is the co-host of the TR Talk Podcast, where he and Ryan Warner interview leaders in their respective fields to learn how millennials can fast track their personal development. Tom is also an Account Executive at TechTarget and lives in San Francisco.

Email | LinkedIn |Medium | iTunes

This story is published in The Startup, Medium’s largest entrepreneurship publication followed by 292,582+ people.

Subscribe to receive our top stories here.