If you want to improve your decision making skills, you also need to improve your critical thinking skills. Critical thinking allows you to pick out any problems or loopholes in your decision making processes and finding all possible solutions to overcome these problems. By using critical thinking, your chance to succeed is high.
When your mind is in the process of making a decision or thinking through a problem, it is affected by different factors such as your assumptions, core values, points of views, and past experiences which can be categorized as your biases. These biases affect the way you think and may color your judgment that can lead to failure in your decision.
With critical thinking, this can be avoided because you are intervening in your though processes and you are consciously looking for loopholes and also possible solutions that will help you succeed. You can use the critical thinking action plan or strategies below that can help you arrive at the right decision.
Know your purpose
The first step that you need to do to practice critical thinking in decision making is to know your purpose. What is your main goal or objective that making the decision will help you achieve. Identifying the purpose of your decision from the onset keeps you guided throughout the whole process.
For example, if you are planning to relocate to a new place but you have not yet made a decision where, you need to ask yourself what is your main goal or purpose for wanting to move. If you want to move because your current location is not ideal for raising kids, then your goal or purpose should be to find a new place which is ideal for families. The new location should be safe, have a nearby school, and convenient for raising children. Once you are able to identify this purpose, you can easily find the right place and make the decision to move to that place.
Understand your biases
You need to understand your biases that can affect your decision and the way you solve a problem. As what has been explained earlier, your biases include your core values, past experiences, and perspectives on things and situations. For example, if you need to decide whether to send your children to private or public school, you need to evaluate your biases first before you make a decision.
You might be more inclined to send them to a public school because you yourself attended a public school and you also think that kids who attend private schools are spoiled brats. You also think that spending a lot of money on primary education is too much, even though you have the means to do so. This shows that your thoughts are influenced by your core values, notions, and your own experiences.
It is important to look beyond these biases by looking at it from a different perspective. You should ask yourself the different benefits of sending your kids to private schools. You should also look at it from the point of view of parents whose children attend private schools, so that you will be more objective when it comes to making your decision.
Consider the different consequences
Making a decision is not simply choosing option A over option B. You also need to evaluate the different consequences of both options that will help you arrive at the best decision. By anticipating the different consequences, whether positive or negative, you will be more confident in your decision because you already have an idea what kind of challenges or issues you will face if you choose a specific option.
These are the critical thinking strategies that you need to remember to become successful at decision making. You need to identify your purpose, consider your biases, and anticipate the different consequences of your choices.
