🖐🏼 Should I ...?

The anatomy of a good decision using a 3-step rule

Regardless of what we do or make for a living, we make decisions. Even when we are stuck, that still counts as a decision: not to decide. 

For the most part, throughout our lives, we receive no formal training to make decisions and end up mistakenly conditioned to evaluate our decisions based on its outcome.

That is a hindsight approach that doesn't help us to improve our ability to make better decisions in the long run. The decision-making process is a bit of art, but there is a good portion of science to it as well. Here is a 3-step rule to help us get better at it.

Step 1: a good decision starts with a very thoughtful consideration: forget our sunk costs. These are costs that have already been incurred and cannot be recovered. They are in your past. 

For example, I am a lawyer by education. I would limit my professional choices considerably if I got stuck on the fact that I went to Law School and need to be a lawyer for the rest of my professional life. Instead, let's reframe it and consider the skills Law School sunk costs bought me. A well-trained lawyer is a skilled analyst able to communicate with clarity. These are valuable transferable skills. I don't need to work as a lawyer to use them.

Step 2: define what we are aiming for when making a decision. Let's say you are pondering if you should quit your job, as I did. It is a decision that could have many repercussions. What are you looking for to accomplish by resigning? 

In my case, I was aiming for: 

• Broadening my professional perspective

• Gaining autonomy on project selection and direction

• Building better professional relationships and collaborations

• Spending more time on value-adding activities

Of course, there were practical considerations that I had to weigh, like make a living, having health insurance, etc., but these are not to be confused with the things I was aiming for. I was conscious about the things I would be losing, as the relative security of a job in a global corporation, a generous compensation, my corporate identity, etc. 

When you take a right at the fork in the road, something essential to remember is whatever the left side had in store no longer matters. Don't waste energy thinking about it. 

Step 3: avoid deciding based on a knee-jerk reaction or impulse alone. Use data/information to determine the odds of reaching what we aimed for. Keep in mind that it is unlikely that we will ever have all data to calculate the odds with 100% precision. I suggest using a High/Medium/Low scale for our assumptions once we have validated them with data. 

For example, I considered these known facts to me:

• I am highly disciplined when it comes to learning new subjects

• More than ever, there is a wealth of learning sources available

So, I estimated that the odds of broadening my professional perspectives were "High". But that the odds of gaining autonomy on project selection were "Medium" since I would have to be flexible, allowing me to create space for new and more meaningful professional relationships. 

Given that there are no guarantees about the outcomes, I hope it is clear that the decision's quality is not necessarily associated with the outcome's quality. Even good decisions are subject to bad outcomes; we knew there was no certainty of reaching what we were aiming for. The good news is that we decided with eyes wide open. 

Following this 3-step rule with rigor will help us to make good and informed decisions. I think it is time to make some decisions, good luck!

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