Want to make better decisions? Take some advice from Danny Kahneman, 2002 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, noted for his work on the psychology of judgment and decision-making, behavioral economics and hedonic psychology.
Kahnemen recommends something called a decision journal, and here’s how it works.
When making a major decision, do the following with your decision journal:
1. Write down what you expect to happen.
2. Write down why you expect it to happen.
3. Write down how you feel about the situation (emotionally and/or physically).
This record keeping helps give you clear and honest feedback about your thought process when you made the decision. The idea is to eliminate “hindsight bias,” that situation whereby we reflect on past decisions we’ve made and change the way we see it in order to make us feel better about the outcomes.
If you keep a decision journal, you may even begin to notice patterns in your decision making which may help inform future decisions. Simple accountability to reduce bias is an incredibly powerful tool.
