Knowing what you want to stop wasting your time

Imagine that you would have no idea of what you want.

You would be choosing at random! 

The case for knowing what you want (the first cornerstone of good decision making) is simple: the reason for doing things is to get what you want. 

Thanks to Kati for drawing the picture!

Do you occasionally commit yourself to something you did not like after all, such as the holiday trip that turned out to be boring? Have you ever realized that doing something you were 'supposed to do' was just a waste of time or did not serve the purpose?

I have. And I believe these situation often follow from not thinking through the decision from the perspective of what you want. Somehow it feels cognitively easier to outsource your decision making to arbitrary rules or to other people. Examples: making your choice based on what other people have chosen in the same situation; basing your decisions on arbitrary rules or sayings such as ‘more is better'; thinking of one criteria only, e.g. ‘this is the cheapest one’ or doing what is conventional or the status quo, ‘it is always done like this’. 

Decision making can be stressful and your objectives may include avoiding that stress. However, when you are making big decisions the possible gain from good decisions should usually clearly outweigh the trouble of choosing. The bigger the decision, the more there is to lose from careless decision making. 

Thinking about what you really want can help you drastically reduce the time you spent doing the wrong this or doing things the wrong way.

If you are already doing things one way you can ask yourself 'what is the purpose of this'. After identifying the purpose you may come up with a better way of reaching it. If you are going to make a decision, you should ask 'what do I really care about in this context' or maybe 'what would be the ideal outcome and why?'.

And one more thing: Do not stop the thought process after answering to the first 'why?'-question. Keep on digging a little further and you will find some of your more fundamental objectives.

Note: Much of what I nowadays think about good decision making is inspired by Value-Focused Thinking by Professor Ralph Keeney. See for example http://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/creativity-in-decision-making-with-valuefocused-thinking/