14 Questions To Help You Make Great Decisions 🧭

Issue #100: My Checklist to Make Decision Making Process Easier and Faster. The 5 Types of Wealth. 3 Traits of Emotional Intelligence.

This marks the 100th issue of Learn + Grow. Thank you for your continued support, love, and encouragement! ❤️

💡 Here are 3-ideas to help you learn, grow, and be inspired this week!

🎓 Learn

When I connected with new young leaders in my company a few months ago, I asked them what challenges or questions they had as they prepared to take on leadership roles.

Among the many questions they asked, one theme kept coming up: “How do I make good decisions?”

• How can we develop and improve our decision-making skills?

• What frameworks or approaches can I use to make informed and timely decisions?

• How do I handle situations where I need to make a decision quickly with limited information? 

I get it. Making good, timely decisions is one of a leader's hardest (but rewarding) tasks. As a leader, it's also one of the toughest tasks to delegate.

Research suggests we make around 35,000 decisions daily, but only a few are significant. These decisions are crucial because:

• They shape outcomes and your life.

• They impact you or others in a big way.

• They represent the highest form of freedom and power.

Today, I’ll share a few questions to make decision-making easier.

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1. What is my must-avoid list? I start my decision-making process by checking my ‘to-avoid’ list. Identify what you want to avoid to prevent failure or regret. If you don’t have your to-avoid list yet, click here to create one.

2. Who should I delegate this decision to? Not all decisions are worth your time. As a leader or manager, consider who in your team or network is best suited to make this decision.

3. Is it a shiny object or a real problem/opportunity? Not all decisions are important and worth the time. It’s always good to first check it’s not a shiny object.

4. What am I feeling about this decision? Identify the dominant feeling you have about the decision. Understanding this emotion helps prevent it from unconsciously influencing your decision more than the facts.

Common feelings include:

• Extreme fear

• Some fear

• Neutral or bored

• Some greed

• Extreme greed

Credit: Shaan Puri (founder of My First Million podcast).

5. What are my options? Often, we consider only 2 or 3 options. Write down all possible choices, including the difficult and seemingly silly ones.

6. What are the downsides and upsides? List all the potential negative outcomes of each option and potential positive outcomes.

7. What does my gut or instinct tell me? Sometimes, you just know the right choice without any facts. Write down the choice that you are leaning toward.

8. What did I or someone else do in a similar past situation? Look for past case studies. Not all decisions are noble. Learn from your own or someone else’s past.

9. What’s the cost of delaying the decision? While gathering facts feels right, some decisions cost more when delayed.

11. What’s the cost of a wrong decision? Understand the true cost or magnitude of a wrong decision; don’t assume.

12. What information do I need to make a decision? List only the key details that are required to make a decision. And find the people or sources to get this info.

13. Do I have enough information to decide? Once you have the key details, DECIDE; Don’t delay. Don’t try to overcomplicate it.

14. Is it a one-way or two-way door? Jeff Bezos of Amazon uses this method in his decision-making. “One-Way Door” decisions are irreversible or very difficult to reverse. Once you make these decisions, it's challenging to go back. Therefore, they require careful consideration and thorough analysis. “Two-Way Door” is reversible. You can easily step back and choose a different path if you make a mistake.

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Key Takeaway:

There is no sure way to know the right or wrong decision in advance. Most of the time, you, as a leader, will make a decision after evaluating all the facts and following a checklist like the one shared here. Once you make a decision, you will know for sure if you made the right decision or not eventually. Also, decision-making gets easier and faster with experience and the right tools.

🚀 Growth Tip

Sahil Bloom is a successful entrepreneur and nice human being who writes about personal growth. His new (and first) book—The 5 Types of Wealth—is out for pre-order. I would encourage you all to pre-order and read this book.

⁠It will help you design and build a life of truly comprehensive wealth:

• Control over how you spend your time

• Depth and breadth of connection with those around you

• Clarity of purpose, presence, peace and growth

The 5 Types of Wealth

🤩 Inspiration

Anil

May the Peaceful Growth be with you! 🪴

P.S. I've written 100 posts for Learn + Grow over the last two years. Writing is a powerful skill, but it was challenging to stay inspired and consistent, especially since English is not my first language. Thank you all for your love and support in helping me build this skill and habit. Cheers to 100 more!