10: Decision-Making: FYCO (Figure Your Crap Out-isode)

• Decision-making is..".In psychology, decision-making is regarded as the cognitive process resulting in the selection of a belief or a course of action among several alternative possibilities.” (Wikipedia).
• Decision-making is either...
  • 1. The gut-level response we have to choose one path over another (System1).
  • 2. The active, critical-thinking process of applying wisdom to several options in order to find the best one (System 2)

• Start with WHY
  • What’s the purpose?
  • Famous Decisions:
    1. JFK’s team deciding to have the top down on his car that he rode through the streets in - which led to his assassination
    2. Rosa Parks deciding toast down on a bus and jumpstarting the civil rights revolution
    3. MLK’s speech - deciding to go off his notes and talk about “I have a dream” 
• The psychology of decision making
  • Thinking fast and slow by Daniel Kahneman. System 1 vs System 2 thinking.
  • We make decisions based on what we perceive as best and that is either an active perception (kaneman) or passive. Actively being aware of our biases is crucial
• How we go about actively making choices
  • Get active
    • Don't settle for status quo...which will be a conglomerate of how your family and friends make decisions. Get active, stop apathy. Own your choices.
  • Determine your defaults
  • Determine other influences 
    • Biases like advertisements, confirmation bias, etc.
• (Re)Designing our Defaults
  • We have to redesign our lives so that we make better decisions by default
  • With bigger decisions, we need a framework for judging that becomes our default. We have to measure the options we have by the truth and our sense of self and calling.
• Defining our Process to making a decision
  • Decision-Making Framework (From TRG blog posted last week)
    • Remove self from individual moment and look at big picture
    • Eliminate emotion as much as possible (and replace with rational logic)
    • Seek counsel, but don’t give up the decision-making responsibilities
      1. Must seek counsel from the right people - experts, and those who have your best interests in mind
      2. The best advisers will never make the decision for you
    • Trust your gut! (Arguably the hardest part)
      1. If you have wrestled with the decision for long enough and still don’t have a clear answer, you will have a gut reaction (usually from early on in the process) that, if well-informed, will almost always be the right decision.
      2. "The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity." –AMELIA EARHART
    • Never Look Back!
      1. The only place to move towards after making a decision is forward!
      2. http://www.thaneringlergolf.com/blog/2016/10/18/the-summer-of-2016

For all the resources and a full breakdown of the episode, check out the show-notes here:  www.theupandcomersshow.com/episodes/fyco