Pumpkin Spice Latte or Salted Carmel Mocha? Be late to an important meeting or obey the speed limit? Buy the slouchy sweater or save toward your dream vacation? Get up for your morning run or sleep a bit longer? Take a risk or stay safe in your current job?
Decisions, Decisions. Some are quick decisions that we make unconsciously. We make hundreds of those every day. Others are more obvious and feel more weighty so we agonize over them for days and days. The truth is that ALL of our decisions – from big to small, from risk to routine – are based in some foundational worldview that we’ve embraced. Even our indecision is a decision based in our underlying assumptions, thought patterns, and beliefs. The Psychology Today website says it this way: “We choose actions and form opinions via mental processes which are influenced by biases, reason, emotions, and memories.”
In short, decision-making is the process of identifying and choosing alternatives based on the values, preferences and beliefs of the decision-maker. Decisions are made via intuition or reason. Usually, some combination of the two.
Reason is using the facts and figures in front of you to make decisions. Reason tends to be more structured and has its roots in the facts. It is the pro-con list that accounts for all the tangible realities. Reason is measurable and more-straight forward.
Intuition is more commonly called your ‘gut feeling’. It is a combination of past experience and personal values. It is worth taking into account, because it reflects your learning about life and your perceptions. It’s not as measurable as reason but it IS important to the process.
Decisions that are 100% reason have their pitfalls. The same can be said for decisions that are 100% intuition. Usually, the best decisions involve some combination of the two. It is worth noting that because intuition is often less concrete it is important to examine your gut feeling closely; especially if you have a very strong feeling against a particular course of action. A close look at your intuition starts by working out why that is undergirding your perception. Then you can assess whether the feeling is justified.
Good decision making is a mark of maturity. We often call this discernment or wisdom.
This Fall, we’re going to take a closer look at the complexities of decision making. How are our decisions rooted in our values? What holds us back from making good decisions? What is the psychology behind our decision-making? What if we get stuck?
If you’d like to join us, please sign up to have our posts delivered right to your inbox. That way you won’t miss a beat and can more easily join us in the “conversation”. We’d love to hear about YOUR decision-making journey! Do you have a decision that is consuming you lately? How have you honed your decision-making skills over the years?
