Try using this proactive tool for making better decisions

One of the worst aspects of the modern world is the way that speed rules people’s lives. Sometimes it seems that doing something quickly is seen as more important than doing it right. And nowhere is this tendency more common — and more dangerous — that when it comes to making up your mind about someone or something.

We’re also encouraged to accept superficial news measured in sound bites, accept the word of spin doctors as essentially true, jump to emotional conclusions rather that wait until feelings subside and reason re-asserts itself, and assume that there is a single, one-size-fits-all, ‘true’ answer to everything.

That’s why it’s important to train yourself to open your mind and see all those aspects of a situation that you miss by rushing — or which other, highly interested parties want you to overlook, so your decision works in their interests.

The blog ‘Tools for Thought’ has a very interesting article on how you can consciously increase the span of your attention to aspects of a situation that you might otherwise have missed (“Consider All Factors”).

For example:

A shy person is invited to a party. His default reaction is to think, “I’m just not an extrovert.” For this exercise he decides to enrich his perspective by considering other factors in that social situation . [. . .] . By consciously distributing cognition around a topic, he gives himself new things to think about.

As the author says, the more you practice opening your mind to as many considerations as you can think of, and doing it deliberately , the easier it gets. As a result, you’ll be much less inclined to jump to easy, premature conclusions. You won’t be satisfied with accepting the first solution that comes to mind either. Nor will you be so easily pushed into a choice on the basis of what others tell you — or what some marketing guy wants you to believe.

In time, whenever you tneed to make a decision or find an answer, you’ll instinctively start by asking yourself, “What else do I need to consider? What other options are out there I’m not being told about? What am I missing?”

That alone should be worth all the effort.

If you want more reason to act this way, consider this: the basis of just about every act of creativity and innovation starts from deciding to look more widely and avoid choosing the obvious or conventional answer. Without an open mind, you can’t have a creative one either.

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