Most of us shy away from life’s biggest decisions. But there are ways to help us
Illustration: Eva Bee/The ObserverIllustration: Eva Bee/The ObserverSun 5 Jun 2022 13.00 BSTis an expert in how to make decisions, but in the early days of his career, it was all theoretical. Then one day he took a call from “someone very senior”, who described a worrying trend: police chiefs were showing themselves unable, in critical situations, to make crucial choices.
In fact, the gem at the heart of the book is that there’s almost always a decision that’s uniquely right for you – so it’s usually best to make your own decisions. It’s a question of tapping into your personal values and concentrating not on the process but on the end goal. “I’d say the biggest mistake people make when it comes to decision-making is failing to focus on the outcome,” says Alison.
But time – the T of the acronym – is highly significant here, too. Because before you make a decision you need to calculate how much time there is available to make it in, and if there’s no time frame, and it’s open-ended , you need to watch out that you don’t go down the doing nothing route, because you’ve got forever.
Alison and Shortland agree that some personality types find it easier than others to make decisions: they make a lot of so-called maximisers versus satisficers, who will settle for something that’s “good enough”. The problem for maximisers is that hanging on waiting for everything to line up might mean missing an opportunity, and also, real life is rarely if ever perfect.