Decision-Making
My 3-step framework for less regrets and more results.
We make 35,000 decisions every day on average... so you’d think we know what we’re doing at this point, right?
Wrong - Over 90% of adults have deep or existential regrets about their life decisions.
Okay, so we don’t want to end up in that situation, but how can we mitigate that (even a little) in our lives?
The following is my 3-step framework:
Once you’re faced with a decision…
1 - Choose your regrets.
Opportunity cost is baked into life. We cannot split-test life, so we must make decisions between our options. Inherently in this, there is an opportunity cost.
You can go to the gym or you can go to the theme park. Even though the gym might be the “right” answer, you will always have an open loop of “well what if I would have gone to the theme park?”
So no matter what, we will have regrets to some degree, but how do we turn this into helping us make a decision? I love this framework from Chris Williamson:
“If regrets are inevitable, if they're going to happen no matter what, an easy way to look at the decision is rather than “which do I want to do?”, [think] “which regret could I live with?” because there are certain regrets that you can't bear living with.”
- Chris Williamson Modern Wisdom Episode 670
Ask yourself “which regret could I bear living with?” After doing so, you likely will have one option that you are leaning towards. That’s crucial information and you must follow this. Ignoring this out of fear will only lead to further regret.
Taking control of your regrets and consciously choosing which ones you wish to live with completely reframes your thinking. You are in control of how you feel about your life.
Choose your regrets instead of letting them choose you.
One small note to throw in here is to be mindful of who you are listening to. At this stage of the decision-making process, you are likely fielding advice from those around you.
Ben Navarro said, “Only take advice from those who are in the arena.” This is a reference to President Theodore Roosevelt’s speech “Man in the Arena”. To Ben, being in the arena means trying to be a better person every day, striving to achieve greatness, and truly pushing yourself outside of your comfort zone. Those are the people you want to take advice from. Anyone else is just noise.
“When you make big life decisions, don't listen to the people closest to you, listen to the people closest to your goals.” - Alex Hormozi
Alternatively, don’t listen to everyone’s negative input as well. Senator Tim Scott said, “Don’t listen to criticism from someone you wouldn’t take advice.” I believe those two quotes go hand-in-hand.
So, at this point you have an idea of what you’re leaning towards based on which regret you would rather live with. You also have hopefully listened to the correct people around you to help you increase your certainty.
Once you have decided which regret you would rather live with…
2 - Get to 51%.
Be prudent, do your due diligence, but don’t over-analyze.
President Barack Obama said in an interview:
“You don't have to get to 100% certainty on your big decisions, get to 51%, and when you get there, make the decision and be at peace with the fact that you made the decision based on the information you had”
I had the pleasure of meeting with former Chief of Staff for the U.S. Air Force General Michael T. Moseley and his sentiment was similar, saying “You’ll never have 100% conviction and you’ll make your employees furious if you demand it. Get to 60-70% and be willing to risk the remaining 30%.”
This is the area where most people struggle with decision-making. I myself am a perfectionist and I know a lot of people can relate to wanting 100% certainty before making a decision. However, this over-analyzing leads to never making a decision. This indecision proves to be incorrect over an extended time frame. You are choosing to fail if you never make a choice.
The trick is to get to 51% and make the decision.
Once you’ve made your decision…
3 - It’s all about execution.
I recently met with Eric Cox, and he said, “It’s not about making the right decision, just pick a decision and make it right”.
There’s no right or wrong decision, just different opportunities. Everything goes back to execution. Simply picking a decision doesn’t inherently solidify it’s verdict.
You could pick the right decision, but not execute, and it becomes wrong. In a meeting with Martin Mucci, he similarly mentioned “to know but not to do, is to not know”. Planning is just procrastinating unless you execute on the plan.
“Put your best plan into practice.” - Jordan Peterson
“Put your all behind it and sleep well knowing that you tried your best.” - Alison Riske
The solution is to pick a decision and go make it right. The execution will determine its verdict.
So, the next time you have a big decision, follow this framework:
1. Choose your regrets. Ask yourself “Which regret would I rather live with?” And only take advice from people in the arena.
2. Get to 51% and make the decision. Indecision proves to be incorrect over the long-term. Be willing to risk the remaining 30%.
3. Focus on execution. There is no “right” or “wrong” decision. A decision is a choice between two opportunities. Pick one and make it “right”.
Combining those 3 steps will lead to less regrets and more satisfaction.