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48 Ways To Make Better Decisions

In June I launched Lean Decisions to help teach people how to make better decisions. Over the past 6 months I’ve covered tips, techniques, strategies and patterns for improving your decisions.

Today, with the 50th post, I look back over the past 6 months and give you a guide to learning how to make better decisions. Click on each link below to read an article describing one piece of advice.

But first, I want your feedback.

If you have found these articles useful, let me know. What are your challenges when making decisions? What do you most need to learn? What articles have been most helpful for you so far?

Add a comment below, post a comment on Facebook or e-mail me at feedback [at] leandecisions [dot] com.

Your feedback is critical to helping me shape the content of this site.

I’ll be taking off for the rest of the year, but will be back next year with more articles. Have a happy holidays!

– Trevor

Build a Foundation

  1. Read the 13 core principles of Lean Decisions
  2. Learn the 4 phases of a decision
  3. Know that a good decision doesn’t guarantee success

Develop a Strategy

  1. Know when not to hedge
  2. Know when to just flip a coin
  3. Know when to embrace uncertainty
  4. Avoid premature diversification
  5. Treat commitments as portfolio decisions, not yes/no decisions
  6. Choose what to focus on: the path, the journey or the destination

Follow a Process

  1. Set your priorities first
  2. Challenge your assumptions
  3. Don’t limit yourself
  4. But don’t overwhelm yourself either
  5. Choose what to optimize your decision for
  6. But choose wisely–efficiency isn’t always the right answer

Avoid Bad Decisions

  1. Beware pitfalls
  2. Surface your hidden decisions
  3. Avoid using absolute costs
  4. Avoid comparison shopping
  5. Stop reading everything you come across
  6. Learn how to get others to prioritize effectively

Use Your Body

  1. Tame decision fatigue
  2. And maybe hold your pee in

Be Decisive

  1. Identify where your decisions get stuck
  2. Work to overcome indecision
  3. Don’t dilly-dally: decide or defer
  4. Order from menus quickly
  5. Decide who to vote for quickly

Learn Patterns

  1. Learn the 5 families of decision
  2. Learn the types of Choice decisions
  3. Make better Go/No-Go decisions
  4. Recognize Conveyor Belt decisions
  5. Avoid the sunk cost dilemma
  6. Make good Voting decisions

Study Techniques

  1. Improve your pro-con lists
  2. Make weighted pro-con lists
  3. Use decision checklists
  4. Use decision rules
  5. Make preemptive decisions
  6. Use unbalanced scales when weighting factors in a decision
  7. Learn poker

Learn From Others

  1. Listen to Noah Kagan talk about decision frameworks
  2. Listen to Chad Modad talk about selecting a new vendor
  3. Listen to John Knox talk about starting a t-shirt business
  4. Listen to John Knox talk about why he decided NOT to buy a camera
  5. Read about one of my bad decisions and what I learned from it
  6. Read about the best decision I ever made
  7. Read 19 more articles to help you make better decisions
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