You can make better choices by avoiding the most common biases and distractions. The WRAP method can help us make better, bolder decisions.
Have you ever agonized over a decision? Ever wrestled with which choice to make?
Studies show that our decision-making skills have numerous pitfalls: We’re overconfident. Short-term emotions cloud thinking. We seek out information that supports us, and we reject information that doesn’t. Bottomline is our brains are imperfect instruments when it comes to making decisions.
The famous Heath brothers, Chip and Dan, are at it again with a new book “Decisive: How To Make Better Choices in Life and Work.” The
same team that brought us “Switch” and “Made To Stick” has tackled the art and science of how we make decisions, and more importantly, how we can make better ones.
They’ve made another exhaustive study of a vast subject. They’ve even come up with a handy process they call WRAP as a best practices reminder. Here it is:
Widen Your Options – Narrow framing leads us to overlook options. We must expand ideas and thinking by studying analogies, best practices and bright spots.
Reality-Test Your Assumptions – Since we’re naturally drawn to self-serving information, we need to ask ourselves hard questions. (What are some problems with this new Android phone?) We should zoom in and zoom out, and also conduct small experiments that can teach us more.
Attain Distance – Short term emotions tempt us to make decisions that are bad in the long term. We need to create space and time to properly evaluate options. The best way is through questions and by creating an inventory of core priorities.
Prepare To Be Wrong – We often over estimate our insight and understanding and think we know the future when we really don’t. We should prepare for bad outcomes as well as good outcomes.
So take an extra minute, evaluate all your options, look at things from all angles. As Chip and Dan like to say: The right decision, at the right moment, can make all the difference.
Sign up for The Sunday Snippet!
Good ideas to help you prosper delivered fresh each Sunday morning.