Dr. Rakish Rana (The Clear Coach) is a life coach who challenges, encourages and supports clients to find direction, happiness and purpose.
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While others were catching up on their favorite shows or watching a movie last night, I opted out in favor of doing something else.
Easy as it may sound (or not so simple for those serious TV junkies like me), choosing not to sit in front of the television opened up a wide range of alternative options. I decided to "put pen to paper" and explore the topic of choice.
Constantly, we decide between alternative courses of action. We make most of our "decisions" automatically or out of habit or emotional responses informed by our prior experiences. In his book Thinking, Fast and Slow, psychologist Daniel Kahneman extensively explores what he calls System 1 thinking. It takes a lot more work to switch on our rational, analytical, cerebral System 2 mode of thinking. Furthermore, the six psychological principles of persuasion defined by Robert Cialdini in his book Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion have a significant impact on our System 1 thinking (used 95% of the time).
As the demands on our brains continue to rise, we are less able than ever to recognize the ways in which we are shaped by external factors into the persons we ultimately become. We make decisions that aren't always in our best interests, especially when we are hungry, fatigued or drunk, or when mindlessly browsing through social media on our phones. That we have so little say over our own destinies is mind-boggling. We're all familiar with the expressions "two for one," "final discount," "five people just booked the same hotel" and "scientifically proven," but we know that they're often merely jargon used to influence our decisions.
Of course, you want to always pick the best option available. We can't put all our faith in our fallible judgment, and sheer force of will won't help us either. "If you’re required to exert willpower to do something, there is an obvious internal conflict," writes Benjamin Hardy in his book Willpower Doesn't Work. To that end, what steps can we take to improve our decision-making?
1. Sleep: Get adequate sleep, as this will guarantee your System 1 thinking is kept in control, preventing the intuitive drives of your emotional/habitual thinking from dictating your behavior, and will allow your brain to be refreshed for the more energy-demanding analytical System 2 thinking to be engaged.
2. Self-Awareness: Improve your awareness of yourself; to be more mindful is to pay closer attention to the here and now and to be aware of your inner mental processes. You may be more deliberate about your actions and avoid the negative consequences of acting on impulse.
3. Education: Often, we have no idea how much we lack in some areas of knowledge. Decisions in System 1 reasoning are largely influenced by past experience; therefore, expanding our horizons via learning can help us make better choices. Improving decision-making skills requires constant study. That might be done in a variety of ways, including reading, watching videos or talking to others.
4. Environment: Hardy says, "No matter how much internal resolve you have, you will fail to change your life if you don’t change your environment." This leads us to our fourth and last point: Make the better choice the easier decision. Putting yourself in the correct surroundings will not only help you make better decisions but will also make those decisions simpler. To help me stick to my resolution to eat healthily, I have banned all sodas, candy and chocolate from coming into my house.
Now that we know how to make decisions deliberately, we have a higher chance of choosing the right ones. Most of the time, we settle for the tried-and-tested, the familiar, the safe and the predictable, all of which limit our growth and development. To a large extent, our decision-making, subsequent actions and, ultimately, our level of success and happiness are all determined by our level of awareness, self-awareness, knowledge and the quality of the environment in which we find ourselves.
Was it the better option to work on this post instead of watching TV last night? When looking at the big picture, who can say? In any case, I felt it was worthwhile!
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