Non-emotional decision-making.

Emotional decisions are short-sighted. They lead us into decision debt (sometimes even financial debt) which compounds with every iteration and tends to worsen the quality of our lives.

Non-emotional decision-making or strategic decision-making is a skill. And it is one of the most important skills to improve the quality of our lives. Annie Duke, in her book, Thinking in Bets, teaches us the frameworks and the pitfalls involved in decision-making.

Pick a decision where emotions are driving your thinking.

Take a pen and paper. Write down the different choices that you have. Write as many as you can including the choice of delaying the decision or not taking the decision at all. This is called framing.

Then, write down all the factors that you think are important while making the decision. This could include the time or money you have already invested in a particular option (sunk costs), the emotional rewards or costs of choosing an option or anything else that comes to your mind.

Then, divide 100 points among the different factors you have listed. You can give a single factor all the 100 points or you can divide them equally or most likely, you will end up with 2 or 3 factors that would be most critical.

The tension that you feel while dividing the points is what will give you clarity. You will start seeing what matters and what does not.

When we do decision-making with intent, we create a framework that significantly reduces dissonance while also making space for our emotions to express themselves.