Transparency Item: The Perspectives section of the Graphic is comprised of articles based on opinion. This is the opinion and perspective of the writer.
Recently, I was listening to one of my favorite podcasts, “No Stupid Questions,” when a sentence stopped me in my tracks. In episode 209, Host Mike Maughan paraphrased Ellen Langer, Social and Clinical psychologist: “Rather than spending so much time trying to make the right decision, just make the decision right.”
I am guilty of spending too much time making a choice that provides me minimal benefit. I, like many others, struggle with crippling indecisiveness.
I am indecisive because I care about making the best decision. As an economics major, I think a lot about opportunity cost. In an article by The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, Andrea Caceres-Santamaria, senior economic education specialist, defines opportunity cost as, “the value of the next-best alternative when a decision is made; it’s what is given up.”
At least from an economics perspective, I lose something every time I make a decision, but I desperately want to maximize my decisions. I waste a lot of time trying to make choices when I could be using my time and energy (scarce resources) to make my decision most effective, as Maughan suggests.
Of course, quick decision-making comes with some caveats. Depending on the situation, thinking through a decision could save a significant amount of time and energy.
However, thinking through a decision is not most efficient when paired with extreme indecisiveness. For example, relatively unimportant tasks such as choosing what to eat for dinner are not worth fifteen minutes of decision-making.
The things I accomplish during the time I would have spent making the decision are more valuable than the decision I would have come to.
Additionally, depending on the situation, quick decision-making is best even for important decisions. I suspect that the benefit between my first and second choice is minuscule. Choosing one decision and making it right would benefit me much more than taking days or even weeks to weigh the pros and cons.
Making a decision and sticking to it can evoke feelings of empowerment, confidence and agency.
Rather than predicting what will happen if you make a certain decision, focus on the actions you will take to attain your desired outcome. Decisiveness gives a sense of control over a situation.
The ability to make choices efficiently characterizes people as leaders. When a definitive decision is made delegation is smooth and commitment is strong, according to an article from Forbes.
Our desire to make the best decision becomes especially trivial when we question if there ever is a definitive right decision. If such a thing does not exist, why would we bother striving for it?
In The Harvard Business Review, Senior Leader Coach Ed Batista suggests, “Merely selecting the ‘best’ option doesn’t guarantee that things will turn out well in the long run, just as making a sub-optimal choice doesn’t doom us to failure or unhappiness. It’s what happens next (and in the days, months and years that follow) that ultimately determines whether a given decision was ‘right.’”
Given this principle, Batista advises to simply make a “good decision” instead of the “right decision.”
Rather than striving for an unattainable best choice, we should make consistently good decisions.
Many good decisions can make more impact than one great, or even right (if such a thing exists) decision. Additionally, we must accept that sometimes there are factors outside of our control that will influence an outcome.
Given this uncertainty, it is best to make good decisions right rather than waste time trying to make the right decision.
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Contact Caitlin Murray via email: caitlin.murray@pepperdine.edu
