What Decision-Making Really Is
Every day, we make up to 30,000 decisions. Most of them are autonomous reactions, habits, or impulses driven by the subconscious. But when it comes to the most significant moves in your life, mere intuition or emotion isn't enough – they can even lead you astray.
Why do difficult decisions feel so heavy?
Information Overload: Our brains can only process a limited amount of information. Too much data becomes sand in the gears.
Human Biases: We naturally seek confirmation for our own assumptions. We are often blind to our own blind spots.
Subjectivity: There is no such thing as a completely neutral decision. A good decision is always personal and aligned with your values – but it must be based on realities, not just assumptions.
When you make decisions with me:
Double Your Capacity: Method & Sparring, the method I apply is rooted in the psychology of decision-making, anthropology, and behavioural sciences. It's not guesswork; it's a process based on thousands of pages of scientific research.
You harness an external perspective: It is difficult to see your own situation from the outside. I bring a different angle to the game.
You filter the essential: We separate vital information from irrelevant noise.
You strengthen your confidence: Once a decision has been processed and challenged, you can stand behind it without wavering.
Two different backgrounds and our combined brain capacity produce solutions you couldn't find alone.
Many different methods and tools have been developed for decision-making, but unfortunately, there is no one method that stands out above the rest. The process I use is a combination of several researched models that I came across while studying the scientific basis of decision-making.
I have included in my own version only the most essential and important steps when it comes to individual decision-making. It should be noted that, although the process itself is fairly simple, there are many other aspects to decision-making that are not taken into account in the steps alone.
Decision-making steps
STEP 1 IDENTIFICATION
Identify the issue to be decided. What is actually being decided? Why this thing? What is the underlying issue that is causing the dilemma? The chain should be walked as far back as possible to get to the root cause.
STEP 2 ANALYSIS OF CONSEQUENCES
What are the consequences of the dilemma. What are the positive effects, what are the negative consequences of the root cause? Identify the chain of consequences and how are they related? Identify the persons concerned by the decision. What do you want to change? Understand your situation.
STEP 3 GOALS AND DREAMS
What are your dreams? What do you aspire to do and have in your life? How does the desired everyday life look like? Are the goals realistic?
STEP 4 VALUES AND PRIORITIES
What is important to you? How do you view the world and your life? What do you value most? What gives you energy and peace? What do you enjoy doing that you cannot do without? Is nature important, or fun, maybe something else? What do you have to have in life? What is nice to have, but not necessary?
STEP 5 OPPORTUNITIES AND CONSTRAINTS
You do not have unlimited possibilities, many things such as your skills, experience and personality will influence your choices. You can get more opportunities through education and training. You probably have more options than you realise, you just have to dig deeper.
STEP 6 SCORING
In this step, the options are ranked. For each option, the pros and cons are considered, e.g. in the form of a list. For example, a SWOT-analysis gives a more comprehensive picture.
STEP 7 COMPARISON
Finally, a comparison is made between the options. First comparison to the current situation is made, then compare the options with each other. The option with the highest score is not automatically the best, as practicality and what is actually possible have to be taken into account. Compromises have to be made. The important thing is to keep in mind what you want to get out of the decision and what life will look like once the solution is implemented. Does it feel good?
