Why are Questions are Important in Decision Making?

Sometimes, I am overwhelmed by the number of decisions that we have to make on a daily basis. And this sometimes equals to stress since there is a feeling that there is nothing we can do about it. However, being the organized person I am, would like to outline some ways we can help make this process a little easier to manage. But first let's see what 3rd party decision making or delayed decision making can potentially do to us:


Issues with not making a decision

When faced with some difficult decisions, normally what would happen is:

• We would then either leave the decision making to another person, so we won't have to do it ourselves but this method allows the party who is deciding for you to take whatever measures they want in perhaps their own best interest. This may not necessarily bode well for us since we are no longer in control of the decision.
• Or we might just leave the decision to be decided at a later date. The problem with this is it lingers and camps out in the back of your mind and it can be an irritating feeling that you still have not taken the right steps. The guilt from not being able to move can also paralyze you in functioning in other areas (depending on the seriousness of the decision which you are about to undertake).

However, I feel that most of the times, we don't necessarily have all the answers to the questions. Since we are not seeing the entire picture, we become confused and are uncertain in making a decision. And that is why we should be asking intelligent questions.

My suggestion is to question it till we have an answer. Just like my previous entry on having a productive day, once we have the questions answered, we have in fact in the process of finding our solution. Most of the times, we do not have all the facts with us and tend to make poor decisions or none at all since we cannot see the entire picture. While doing this does not always guarantee that you would have made the right decision, it does at least put things in perspective. Here are some steps that can help you get started right away:

1. What is the problem at hand?
2. What is the cause to this particular problem?
3. What are the available measures or solutions to this problem?
4. What is the most effective and efficient way to solve this problem based from the identified solutions?
5. Immediately take action!
6. Review and learn from the result that takes place.
7. Rinse and repeat until problem is solved.

Another tip is to get a sounding board or boards. Sometimes, you need to hear your thoughts aloud and get another person to listen to you. You also may get some good feedback from the other person. So it may be important to even select the right kind of person you do this with.

To be more accurate, the above questions is simply a guideline and in fact, we should be asking a whole lot more questions since sometimes even questions can be layered and the actual answer hidden by human emotion, secrets and whatnot. As long as your objective is clear, ask any question till you get to the root of the issue and potentially the solution. Hopefully, this simple decision making process combined with external input will give you less headaches when the time comes around to make another decision.