Decision-Making: Your Future at Stake.

How the 2022 Elections made me reflect on my decision-making mistakes.

Last week, I had my nose stuck in material and material of campaign paraphernalia, news articles, and government sites. Like always, I was cramming for something similar to a test. But this was bigger than a grade on my report card. I had months and months to prepare, but I stayed up until 5 am the night before the big day reading the most available material about almost a hundred people. 

Elections were taking place, and I was still undecided for the most part.

Initially, I took my sweat time and read through all the data I could get my hands on from the internet. With everything I read, Sunday Night was left with 64 senatorial candidates un-touched and hours of reading to do. I was out of time. There was no other choice but to read the available data on the government’s election website and a few cross-references to notable accomplishments or issues mentioned on the site.

 2 hours before my alarm clock rang, I was done. Almost 70 people, including local government officials, were read through and slightly researched in the wee hours of the morning. I have decided and finalized my list. 

This decision is one I worked long and hard for. I did not want to follow what peers and family said.

 If you did, you may be falling for groupthink—keep that in mind.

 I needed to know the facts for myself, and I wanted to make sure I chose the best available option.

Voting is an important characteristic of a democracy, dating back to Athenian times (check out the history of elections here). Through this process, the course of the next three to six years of the place I call home will change. Whatever these people in power choose to do in the limelight will affect you and the following generations. This burden is on the backs of you and me, a decision that should have been made with the most careful thought and consideration.

But the work of making the best decision is tedious. I understand. Who on earth would want to read about and cross-check the lives of almost a hundred people? That is taxing work, and I am a lazy girl. The impact this decision bore left in me the importance of decision-making and its connection to your future.

Making the right or wrong decision would have a butterfly effect on everything down the road. But one could not decide on matters such as these unless a few factors are met.

1. An Understanding of Yourself

Reading through and watching a handful of material on Decision-Making made me realize that the most significant factor in the process is you. You have to make a decision. Who you are plays the biggest role in the mix.

If you do not know who you are and what you stand for, then you may find yourself as a “drifter” (the term is from this TedTalk on making hard choices by Ruth Chang).  As a drifter, you do not find making decisions a difficult task. Instead, you let the world define your decisions and your path. According to Ruth Chang, you may not necessarily be the author of your life.

This is an easy path. To choose not to decide and let circumstance take you where you will be. I have lived the past 25 or so years drifting. Only recently did I realize that driftwood gets caught in tight situations and remains stuck until it reaches total decay.

After drifting for so long, I found myself stuck. I did not know what I wanted but was very unhappy where I was. I refused to make any decisions because I did not know who I was. Painfully stuck, I had to decide for myself.  

What you have to do next is learn if these options align with you.

2. Understanding the Context and the Bigger Picture.

Facts and information are the keys in the face of decision-making.

This Forbes article entitled 6 Tips for Making Better Decisions dedicated a whole section to the importance of information you have when coming to a decision. All five of the six steps in the article have everything to do with data and information about your choices.  

Making decisions was never meant to be easy, that is why drifting and following the call of the crowds is easier. We choose the easiest option so we do not have to think. But according to this TedTalk about making good decisions, those who easily made up their mind about trivial matters are correlated with those that make “not so good” decisions. 

The easier path does not mean the right path.

We are faced with decisions daily, from minute choices to life-changing and even nation-building options. Making good choices relies heavily on your work to sit down and make an informed decision. 

This was why I cram-read through all the candidates. A good decision has to be made. Whim, bandwagons, and the prevalence of fake news call us to understand situations for ourselves.

You are left with the task of understanding how these choices relate to who you are. No one else can do that for you. Your future from these decisions is in your hands.

It is easy to forget that there is a bigger picture these decisions are building on. Choosing what to eat, something very trivial may impact your health down the line. Each decision you make is a part of a whole, be it your future, career, or nation. It is vital to know the details and to step back and look at the bigger picture.

3. Understanding the Mistakes and Bad Decisions

Sometimes even with all the information on hand, we can still make mistakes. No one is born with the innate prowess of the decision-making process. But take heart, we have all made bad choices before.

Making the wrong choice does not mean it is the end of the world. The best you can do is to prepare for when things go wrong.  The same Forbes article mentioned above gave bonus content on this matter.  

This other TedTalk by Matthew Confer about making better decisions says that preparing for failure is the second important step.  Knowing how to address failure is the best route when the world seems to be pulled from under your feet.

There is no point crying over spilled milk. There are consequences to face and lessons to be learned along the way.