Sunday, June 8, 2014

How do you make decisions? Good judgment, personal ethics

There is a complex internal process that helps you to make decisions, bigger or smaller. It comes from your experience, the sensations of the moment and your approach in relation to the future, among other criteria that helps you to make decisions.

In a workplace, you are not only paid to make decisions, but you have to exceed others' expectations in relation to that, which means your decision-making skill should be refined and accurate.

How to do that? As humans, we learn with life by observing, accumulating knowledge and practicing. You can notice in your life that some decisions that used to take a long time to be made - what should I eat today? - are now a question of seconds, whilst others that used to take a short time - with whom should I walk along? - can take days now...

To develop that skill, you need a few things:

  • Clear up your personal ethics. Ethics will be your main criteria, your compass at the time of making decisions.
  • Use your experience as if it were gold. Everything that happened to you has helped you to be what you are today. That will help you to define who you will be in the future, as a fruit of your decisions.
  • Don't be blinded by your experience. However, experience can be like an old rusted anchor preventing the ship to sail. A subtle balance is needed with an open mind and a will to experiment new possibilities.
  • Others can think differently. Whenever you have to make a decision, don't forget others may oppose you. It is their right; we cannot impose decisions in our society. You will need to have some negotiation skills and a strong argument to defend your decision, but it all starts from your feeling they have the right to think differently, and that is OK.
  • Mistakes are great. For someone who is learning, mistakes are great teachers. Learn from them, don't fear them. If your decision goes wrong, apologize, learn and keep making decisions.


By doing the former steps, you will feel you can make decisions faster and better.

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