As a business owner or leader, you make countless decisions every day. But did you know that as many as 90% of those decisions are made unconsciously?
So, if you’re looking at how to make better decisions, this is an important area to explore.
Our minds are constantly assessing situations and matching them with our past experiences and relationships. Based on this we give meaning to the situation that we’re dealing with now.
This can be both helpful and harmful in a business setting.
These unconscious decisions are having a huge impact and are affecting your business outcomes and your life.
On the one hand, our past experiences and knowledge can guide us towards making informed decisions.
On the other hand, relying heavily on our automatic responses can limit our ability to make the best decisions. It can lead us to responding based on emotions rather than facts.
So, how can we choose to intentionally improve the quality of our decision-making and life? Here are some tips and examples on how to make better decisions based on facts not emotion:
- Practice mindfulness:
Mindfulness is the practice of being present and aware of your thoughts and emotions in the moment. By practicing mindfulness, you can become more aware of the unconscious biases that may be influencing your decision-making. For example, if you have a negative experience with a supplier in the past, you may unconsciously be biased against working with an external supplier again to provide this service. By practicing mindfulness, you can become more aware of this bias and intentionally choose try again. You’ll find someone who can service this need and that’ll free up your time to focus on progressing your business. - Seek out diverse perspectives:
When making decisions, it’s important to seek out diverse perspectives to avoid unconscious biases and limited thinking. For example, if you’re considering launching a new product, seek out feedback from employees, customers, and stakeholders with different backgrounds and experiences. This can help you to consider multiple perspectives and make more informed decisions. - Use positive affirmations:
Positive affirmations are statements that you repeat to yourself to reinforce positive beliefs and attitudes. For example, if you’re struggling with a decision, you might repeat to yourself, “I trust my instincts and make informed decisions.” By using positive affirmations, you can create a more positive mindset and intentionally choose to assign positive meanings to things. - Take calculated risks:
Taking calculated risks can help you to break out of unconscious patterns and make innovative decisions. For example, if you’re considering launching a new service, you might take a calculated risk by investing in market research and testing the concept with a small group of customers before launching it to the wider market. - Learn from failures:
Even when we make intentional decisions, failures are inevitable. The key is to learn from them and use them as opportunities for growth. For example, if a marketing campaign doesn’t yield the expected results, take the time to analyse what went wrong and how you can improve next time. Don’t allow one failure to stop you.
Final Thoughts
As a business owner or leader, it’s important to be aware of the unconscious thoughts and emotions that may be influencing your decision-making. By practicing mindfulness, seeking out diverse perspectives, using positive affirmations, taking calculated risks, and learning from failures, you can make better decisions and lead your business towards greater success.
Remember, the meaning we give to things creates the emotions we feel, and how we feel every day determines the outcomes we get in business and the quality of our life.
It’s up to us to make the choice to intentionally assign helpful meanings to things and so that we make better business decisions.
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