The “Best” Choice is a Myth

Domain: Strategy - Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

Big decisions feel heavy because the stakes seem so high. In these situations, it's common to obsess over making the best and most optimal decision.

The problem is, the "perfect" choice doesn’t exist which means you're chasing a myth.

To make things worse, pursuit of the perfect decision can lead to delays which create their own issues and costs.

Decision making is so complex because it is impossible to have perfect and complete information for any decision. Every possible decision will come with its own trade-offs. The weight of those trade-offs are also different for each of us depending on our own values and perspective.

The decision you make may not yield the best possible results, but that doesn’t make it wrong.

Furthermore, it's impossible to know with 100% certainty how an alternative decision would have turned out because that dataset is also incomplete. All decisions are based off incomplete information, therefore it's impossible to ever know that you have made the decision with the most optimal outcome.

All you can hope for is a positive outcome. Here are a few tips get out of the overthinking cycle…

Maintain perspective

For most of us, our decisions don't have life and death consequences. They are also not likely to cause catastrophic or systemic failures.

More often than not, we make decisions out to be bigger or more impactful than they actually are. That's not to say that we shouldn’t do the best we can to make strong decisions. We just want to maintain a realistic perspective on the consequences so that we don't cross into overthinking.

If you're stuck wrestling a big decision, get honest about how high the stakes actually are. If things go wrong, is it fixable? If so, leverage that knowledge to avoid overthinking the problem.

Bias for action

We live in a time where we have more options than ever. The problem, as the paradox of choice highlights, is that abundance of options actually creates more stress, decision paralysis and dissatisfaction.

The best way to get more information to support a decision is by doing. We often spend far too much time gathering and analyzing information before taking any action.

By taking action, you can field test assumptions and get more reliable data. It also keeps you out of the over-thinking cycle and into actionable progress.

Positive, not optimal

Once you begin taking actionable steps, focus on positive progress over optimal outcomes. Don't let perfect be the enemy of good. Chasing optimal outcomes is what causes this over-thinking in the first place.

The great thing with positive progress is that you can continue to build on it. By shifting from thinking to doing, you're going to naturally learn more about yourself and further your growth. This positions you to make even more progress going forward.

Values based

If you're still stuck in analysis paralysis, consider using values to guide your decision. For decisions at work, this would likely be the values of the team or organization. For personal decisions, it would be your own personal values.

By making values-based decisions, you're making an informed decision with the information you have. Even if things don't go as planned, you at least know you were guided by the right motives. Poor decisions are often a result of actions that are not aligned with either our values or the values of the organization.

For instance, if you work in an organization that places the customer experience above all else, than use that philosophy to guide your decisions. This ensures that your decision supports the larger mission even if the outcomes were not what you hoped.

Thank you for reading. My hope is always that you've found something helpful and easy to implement. If you have feedback, suggestions or questions, please reply to this email.

If you are interested in exploring one-on-one coaching to transform your leadership, email me at [email protected] and we’ll coordinate a free, one-hour discovery session.

This week’s action items:

1. Be realistic about the consequences of your decision by asking yourself whether any missteps can be corrected.

2. Identify a decision you've been sitting on and take on concrete step to test your theories through action rather than prediction.

3. Set meaningful goals for yourself that achieve positive progress over optimal outcomes.

4. Align decisions to values to ensure you are making progress towards the right things.