Have you ever found yourself needing to make a decision, and you just can’t? It doesn’t have to be a huge, life-changing decision. It could be as simple as, “what should I make with this chicken?” And yet… you.are.stuck. Crazy as it sounds, sometimes even the simplest of decisions can be millstones around our necks. Why can’t I make this decision?
An Oxymoron
When I hear someone say, “that’s an easy decision,” the first thing that pops in my head is, “that’s an oxymoron.” There is no such thing as an easy decision, thanks to the human brain, its complexity, and its capacity to store every piece of data – obviously retrievable or not – collected throughout our lifetime. Making a decision is making a choice between two or more things – yes or no; red, green or blue; chicken soup or chicken casserole. Simple, right?
The Magic Happens
The magic happens when your brain quickly sorts through frames of reference, experience, knowledge, and other facts and details its amassed over time in order to present you with viable options to choose from. Not really so simple, and folks think a computer is amazing! Sometimes it even feels like your “head is swimming” when you’re in this data processing mode, and unfortunately that can trigger retreat, leaving you with no decision made a la Scarlett O’Hara, “I’ll think about that tomorrow. Tomorrow is another day.”
This amazing organ called the human brain goes through what UMass-Dartmouth has identified as “7 Steps to Effective Decision Making” (attribution: https://www.umassd.edu/fycm/decision-making/process/), which are believed to improve reaching the best decision. Even small decisions, like what to do with that chicken, run through this process in your brain with split second speed, whether you realize it or not.
7 Easy Steps
But, when it comes to a big decision, understanding and utilizing the 7-step method might be just the ticket. Go ahead and give the chicken a trial run. I’ll wait….
- Identify the Decision
- Gather Information
- Identify Alternatives
- Weigh the Evidence
- Choose Among Alternatives
- Take Action
- Review Your Decision
How did you do? What’s for dinner? While it may have seemed cumbersome going through this little exercise, everyone makes decisions in this fashion, step by step, consciously or unconsciously, every single day. You’re already an expert at the process. Good for you!
Have you ever used the 7 steps for decision-making? Do you have another path to decision-making? Let me know what you think…I’d love to hear from you!
