A wiser friend who taught us poker had a couple of useful insights for the game. Poker, most of all, is a game about decisions and information. And, given the way probability works, it is very possible to be rewarded initially for bad decisions. Over time, however, it balances itself out. Bad decisions lead to bad results, without exception.
Conversely, in the short term, good decisions can often lead to bad results. Let’s take a simple example – imagine you’ve decided to spend a huge amount to do your undergraduate studies at a top university. Your financials may be in the red compared to a friend who has decided to skip university all together and is working instead. In the long term, however, the chances are very high that you will more than make up for these years in the red as it’s an investment. It’s a good decision. The results will show.
Most situations we encounter are much more complex of course. But, we do repeatedly run the risk of overreacting to bad results and not continue down the path of making decisions. Not making decisions is almost as bad as making bad decisions and probably worse in the long term.
So, how do we help ourselves make better decisions?
1. Actively think about your decision making process. Do you have a decision making process in the first place?
2. When you experience a bad result, reflect on the decisions you made and see if the decisions were right. If they were right, celebrate the fact that you made good decisions. The results will show.
3. Irrespective of the result, evaluate the decisions you made anyway. Improving decision making takes deliberate effort. And it definitely is effort worth taking.
Decision making is one of the topics I’m thinking about this year. There will be more to follow.. especially around thinking about our decision making process. In the meanwhile, if you have insights on what helps you make good decisions, I’m all ears.
A Learning a Day 