When it comes to decision-making, most of us struggle to find the right balance between gathering information, trusting intuition, and managing emotional impulses. In today’s fast-paced world, where the average person makes around 70 decisions per day, according to Columbia Business School’s Professor Sheena S. Iyengar, knowing how to make smarter decisions is vital. This post dives into neuroscience-backed strategies, research findings, and practical tips that can help train your brain to make better choices, faster and more efficiently.
Understanding Decision-Making Strategies: Exploration vs. Exploitation
A groundbreaking study conducted by University of Cambridge researchers Barbara J. Sahakian and Aleya A. Marzuki sheds light on two fundamental decision-making strategies: exploitation and exploration. These terms describe how people approach uncertain situations:
- Exploitation: Choosing familiar options that promise a higher certainty of reward. This strategy involves playing it safe with known outcomes.
- Exploration: Opting for unfamiliar choices to test out new possibilities. This requires a willingness to face uncertainty and potential risk.
In an experiment involving teens with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), researchers found that the teens with OCD were more likely to over-explore, switching between choices unnecessarily when faced with uncertainty. This over-exploration hindered their ability to settle on optimal decisions. The findings, published in JAMA Network Open, suggest that striking the right balance between exploration and exploitation can lead to more effective decision-making in both personal and professional settings.
In the context of businesses, these strategies offer a valuable lesson: periods of stability are ideal for exploration, while moments of volatility call for exploitation of known strategies. Leaders who equip their teams to handle uncertainty and foster resilience will position their companies for success.
The Impact of Brain Cycles on Decision-Making
The rhythm of your brain plays a significant role in decision-making, according to Mithu Storoni. Known as the basic rest-activity cycle (BRAC), this 90-minute cycle drives your brain through rising and falling states of alertness, both during sleep and while awake. Working in continuous stretches of more than 90 minutes without a break can lead to mental fatigue, slowing down your cognitive abilities.
To optimize productivity, Storoni recommends structuring work sessions around these cycles:
- Focus on complex tasks in the first 20 minutes: Your brain is sharpest when you begin.
- Switch to easier tasks in the remaining time: As the session progresses, your focus will naturally wane.
- Take a 10-minute break: Recharge before starting the next session.
By aligning your work schedule with these natural brain rhythms, you can sustain high performance and avoid decision fatigue. Structuring work this way can be especially valuable for those managing cognitive symptoms of Parkinson’s disease, such as mental fog and difficulty concentrating.
Neuroscience-Backed Tricks for Better Decisions
Sometimes, small environmental tweaks can have a big impact on how effectively we make decisions. Here are three offbeat, scientifically backed strategies that might improve your decision-making:
- Dim the lights: Strong emotions can cloud judgment, causing us to focus too much on what feels important in the moment, rather than on long-term outcomes. Researchers from the University of Toronto Scarborough found that dimming lights can reduce emotional intensity and help you make more rational decisions.
- Watch something move clockwise: Research suggests that watching clockwise motion can induce a mental state of forward-thinking, promoting a future-oriented mindset. Conversely, counterclockwise motion tends to draw the mind toward the past.
- Wait until you need to use the restroom: This might sound odd, but research shows that the physical restraint required to hold your bladder can spill over into better decision-making, as it improves self-control.
These seemingly small tricks can be especially useful when you’re facing emotionally charged decisions and need to minimize the influence of impulsive thinking.
Maximizers vs. Satisficers: How Your Decision-Making Style Affects Your Happiness
Everyone approaches decision-making differently. Some are maximizers—people who try to find the absolute best option in every situation. Others are satisficers—those who choose the first option that meets their criteria. While maximizers often aim for perfection, research from Swarthmore College shows that satisficers tend to be happier.
Why? Maximizers are prone to regret and social comparison. As Barry Schwartz, author of The Paradox of Choice, explains, maximizers often feel that there is always a better option out there, even after making a decision. They also tend to compare themselves to others, leading to envy and dissatisfaction.
If you’re a maximizer, Schwartz offers strategies to adopt satisficing behavior:
- Get practical: Understand that there is no perfect choice. Focus on making decisions based on practical criteria that matter to you.
- Recognize your satisficing tendencies: No one maximizes everything. Transfer your satisficing skills from smaller decisions (like choosing toilet paper) to more significant ones.
- Limit your time: Set time limits for decisions, especially on low-stakes tasks like choosing a lunch spot. You can always adjust your expectations to fit within a set time frame.
These shifts in mindset can not only speed up your decision-making but also lead to greater contentment in the choices you make.
Data Overload: Why More Information Doesn’t Lead to Better Decisions
In a data-driven world, it’s easy to assume that more information leads to better decisions. However, research from 2,100 professionals, as noted by Columbia Business School’s Professor Sheena S. Iyengar, reveals the opposite. High doses of data can actually slow down decision-making and cloud judgment. While data is precise, decision-making often involves gray areas filled with intangible factors like bias, risk tolerance, and stakeholder priorities.
To navigate this complexity, organizations need to develop decision-making frameworks that blend data with intuition and experience. Here are seven lessons for making better, faster decisions:
- Create a case for the decision: Change is hard, and decisions represent a shift in direction. To succeed, leaders must make the case for why the decision is necessary and beneficial.
By understanding the human elements behind decision-making, teams can make quicker, more effective choices without getting bogged down by data overload.
Conclusion: Train Your Brain to Make Better Choices
The science behind decision-making reveals that while it’s impossible to avoid making bad decisions entirely, there are concrete ways to improve the process. From understanding how the brain cycles through periods of alertness, to adopting satisficing behaviors, to using environmental triggers like dimming lights, neuroscience offers a range of tactics that can lead to smarter, faster decisions.
Incorporating these strategies into everyday life can help anyone—from business leaders to individuals managing Parkinson’s—navigate the daily flood of decisions more effectively.
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AI-generated medical content is not a substitute for professional medical advice or diagnosis; I hope you found this blog post informative and interesting. www.parkiesunite.com by Parkie
DALL-E Prompt: A watercolor image depicting a serene workspace with dimmed lighting, a clock showing time moving clockwise, and a person sitting at a desk making decisions, surrounded by soft, calming colors that convey focus and clarity.