4 Bulletproof Strategies for Making Better Decisions Need help making a decision?

Try one of my proven heuristics for making decision s with confidence and clarity. Put simply, a heuristic is a loosely organized plan based on rules of thumb, obs ervations, and common sense. I developed these heuristics to help software teams navigate project decisions, but you can use them to make real-life decisions at work or at home. Despite their common sense nature, reviewing these heuristics forces you toackno wledge your own decision makingtendencies and to pick the right heuristic for yo ur situation instead of relying on your reflexes. In other words, there s nothing magic about these common sense heuristics. The ma gic lies in knowing when to use them. The Perfectionist: a heuristic for perfection at all costs. When to use it: when your first attempt will be too expensive to repeat and you have ample time to make the right decision. Examples: buying the right car, star ting the right business, choosing the right field of study, and picking the righ t career. How it works: *. Find the best sources of information pertaining to your decision and consult them to exhaustion. *. Carefully weigh pros and cons. *. Overkill is the name of the game because failure is too costly to risk. So ju st when you think you ve done enough research, do some more. *. Don t stop researching until you re sure. Risks: The Achilles heal of The Perfectionist is the amount of time it takes if you do not have time to be thorough, using this technique could cost you an oppo rtunity. Real Life: I spent 3 months researching before I built my deck because decks are expensive to replaceand can have a big impact on the resalevalue of a home. The Beta Tester: a heuristic for success through trial and error. When to Use It: when heavy researchis impractical, the cost of trial and error i s acceptable, incremental progress is possible, and eventual success is critical . Examples: perfecting a recipe for a new cookbook, designing a user interface f or a software application, andpicking an advertising layout for your Website. How it works: *. Quickly research your options. *. Pick the option that seems best at first glance and start working on it. *. If your approach is working, ask yourself: How can I improve this? *. If your approach is not working, ditchit quickly and try something else. *. Repeat until you re satisfied. Risks: If you can t afford re-work and re-design, The Beta Tester heuristic willco st more than it s worth. Real Life: I use The Beta Tester heuristic to refine the look, feel, and perform ance of my blog over time. The Drifter: the lazy man s heuristic forletting a problem solve itself. When to use it: when moving is riskierthan standing still. Examples: running thr ough a minefield for no good reason,or any other activity where the risk is grea ter than the reward. How it works: *. Carefully watch the world affecting your decision (the standards bodies, the managers, the friends, associates etc.) and take cues from them. *. Resist the urge to act until finally there is only one course remaining. Risks: Despite the fact that standing still really is the hardest (and the best) thing to do in many situations, The Drifter creates a passive mindset that may cost you an important opportunity or put you in a bad situation if you re not care ful. Real Life: One time, my neighbor let the grass in his backyard get so high it be came a haven for wildlife. Instead ofrisking our relationship by reporting him, I waited for him to mow the lawn on his own, knowing he eventually would.

The Jumper: a heuristic for high speedand high risk. When to use it: when time is short and missing a due date is riskier than making a bad decision. Examples : choosing a term paper topic, selecting a Mother s Day card, or choosing the right suit for an interview. How it works: *. Quickly review your options, with little to no research *. Make a snap judgment *. Live with the consequences Risks: Moving quickly may help you sieze an opportunity, but if it s high risk,the sloppy results of The Jumper heuristic may cause more harm than good. Real Life: I once received an impromptu job offer and accepted withno research b ecause otherwise the opportunity would have vanished, and at that point in my li fe I really needed the work. What s Your Decision Making Style? Chances are, one of these heuristics is more natural for you than others: *. If you re a perfectionist, you will tendto treat every decision as an encyclope dia of research and analysis,despite missing out on many of life s great opportuni ties because of your slow pace. *. If you re a beta tester, you will tend to use trial-and-error for every problem , despite the enormous cost of failure and re-work. *. If you re a drifter, you will tend to letlife happen to you instead of taking i tby the horns. *. If you re a jumper, your impulsive nature ensures you re always in the right plac e at the right time, but seldom with the right tools. By nature, I m a perfectionist. I must remind myself that The Perfectionist heuris tic is only optimal when the cost of a second try is prohibitive and I haveample time; otherwise, one of the others will work better. Regardless of your natural style, the key to making great decisions is acknowled ging your natural tendencies,learning to trust them when appropriate, and learni ng to replace them when they re not. Over the years, I have learned to approach every big decision by reviewing these heuristics and asking myself: Which one is right for this decision?