How to break out of decision-making limbo

One major struggle in our lives is making quick decisions. We all make decisions but getting the perfect outcome from them and that too in sync with time is where the exact skill lies. 

Ashish Gaurav was an aspiring organic farmer when I met him the first time. In the second meeting, he mentioned about preparing for IAS. The next time I met him, he was a backpacker in Himalaya, hoping to secure a job with Lonely Planet or CNN. 

Should I see him as a case of serial failure? Hold your horses. This is not about failing. The entrapment here is to find the best, perfect and most efficient solution. Problem? This is fictional. Nothing is perfect. Why does this too much of thinking happen to a few people and why some do not even blink an eye and yet make the most out of the situation? 

Let's look at three core overdone mindsets and how they affect one's decision making. 

Over perfection: It is the fear of being blamed if the decision in question goes wrong. Most people have the fear of accountability as it makes them responsible for the outcomes. Slowly, it starts seeping into ones psyche small doses of low confidence. People who are well placed in enviable jobs, too, are prone to the trap here.

So what can you do? No one has ever been hanged to death for ordering vada pav instead of idli. Simple as that, take your call for everything. Order food for everyone if been told to and just ask for options. Decide the evening movie and ask for opinions. Some calls you make for everyone may go wrong but mostly it would be great freedom. People love to shift blames. So if you take the lead role in taking decisions, chances are that you are in hot seat facing questions over one wrongdoing in comparison to hundred right ones. Take your call. It's okay if you are not exactly a people pleaser. Has everyone else who you meet been a pleasure to you? I rest my case. 

Over-reliance: In business scenarios, one talked about trait is good managerial skills. It's delegation. Unknowingly, managers fall into trap of status quo. They let juniors call the shots under the disguise of delegation and empowering them. Things don't move up the ladder with speed as the juniors get into fear of being either perfect or being chided. So unless someone higher-up holds the bull by horns, the process of decision-making takes a beating. 

What to do in this case? If you are the lucky one to whom the work is being delegated, rise to the occasion. Take lead and be prepared to take the mocking if things don't go right. Remember that winning is of teamwork and failure is of leaders. Don't think about failing. Make your plans, keep bosses in the loop and march ahead. 

Over impressionable: Looking up to a lot of people? Well, we all have role models but do not imbibe everything. Also, keeping past success stories as a manual of success might not work. Time changes the context of right decisions of past into wrong ones in present. Haven't we all invested in wrong financial products in the stock market, gave loans to defaulters and been bitten on the back by a trusted one? It's not wrong to see others for inspiration and aspirations. But certainly one cannot bind self to anything or person who eventually became a role model. 

Human beings are subjected to be influenced by old stories of success. That's why there are repetitive cases of similar products with even similar names and not much difference. 

Maruti Suzuki let go of it's old and super-favourite models 800 and Zen. 

Just be aware of these traps and move to bold decision-making process. Except for death, there is no situation which can not be altered. It helps in knowing and remembering that there is no perfection and everything is subject to multiple changes. That is the best part of the decision-making process. 

The writer is strategic advisor and premium educator with Harvard Business Publishing