Data and Decision-Making
How many decisions do you make each day? Some people have estimated that the average person makes up to 35,000 decisions a day. Although this number may be high, the fact remains. Each of our days is filled with countless decisions. Some of which will have a meaningful impact on our lives. How often are your decisions driven by data?
People love to make decisions based on gut feeling or intuition. It is a great moment when your gut feeling turns out to be right. Is this feeling worth making decisions in the absence of data, though? The truth is people who are perceived as having great gut feelings are typically making decisions based on experiential data whether they know it or not.
It is a common complaint that certain decisions have no relevant data. I challenge you to find a situation where there is no data. A decision about lunch can be influenced by data such as enjoyment of different types of food, recency of eating certain foods, and guests preferences. A decision about when to go to sleep can be influenced by data such as how I feel when I go to sleep at 12:00, how much sleep I got last night, and how early I need to wake up tomorrow.
The thing to remember is not to be afraid of qualitative data. Making a decision based on qualitative data is better than making a decision in the absence of data.
This week, find a common important decision that you make and determine what the relevant data is. Begin applying the data to your future decisions and see the improved results.
In defense of gut feelings, I have to say that many decisions are not worth the time they would take to find and analyze the relevant data. In these situations, gut decisions are not a bad idea. Sometimes you just have to make a decision and move on. However, I have found that the more common mistake is making decisions without data.
It is frightening to imagine how many decisions we are making in the dark when the data that could illuminate the answer is sitting there waiting for us. Stop making blind decisions and take meaningful steps toward finding your relevant data.
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