As the number of opportunities you have increases so too does the complexity involved in making a decision. For example, think of the last time you tried to pick a movie to watch. How long did it take you? The average Netflix user takes around 18 minutes. This is partly because there are lots of options, but more so because people don’t have a clear idea of what they want or a process for deciding.
We make numerous decisions every day that impact our lives. Having a filter to deal with these decisions can increase our awareness of the decision making process, and allow us to make decisions more efficiently and effectively.
What is a decision filter?
A decision filter is a set of pre-established rules that you can use to evaluate a decision and take action.
When creating a filter it is necessary to be data driven. You should establish metrics that are specific to the scenario, aligned with your goals, and easy to understand or calculate. The filter can be a single metric that results in a yes/no decision, or a multistage process that results in an absolute yes/no or a conditional yes/no.
How to use a decision filter
If you are fortunate enough to have a small stipend during grad school, you will learn how to budget. I used to keep my grocery receipts and track spending. This was a useful process but it didn’t actually help me make decisions while in the store, so I analyzed my spending and found a useful filter which ended up saving me a lot of time and money.
My decision filter was that anything less than $2/pound was an automatic yes, and anything more than $2/pound was a conditional yes. There were three conditions: special occasions, items on sale, or where the price of the item could be averaged to hit the $2/pound target.
This made decisions in the grocery store much easier to make, and was not limiting in terms of food choices. It also created some new habits like buying items on sale, using coupons, choosing less expensive grocery stores, and comparing price/weight rather than unit price.
If you want to use this approach, choose a filter that you are comfortable with and which matches your current lifestyle.
How to create a decision filter
You can create filters for decisions that you make frequently (buying food, using social media, networking) or decisions that you make infrequently (buying a car, taking a vacation, applying for jobs).
Filters should be simple and easy to remember. Making the first filter a binary option (yes/no) is best as it can allow you to quickly figure out whether to proceed with the decision making process. Second and third degree filters should be kept as simple as possible so that they are easy to remember and help move you toward action.
Filters should be based on criteria that are data driven or based on your personal preferences, and should be written down so that you can evaluate their functionality.
If you are creating a new filter, ask yourself a few questions:
- Is this filter a hard cut-off, or what is an acceptable margin?
- Will the decision still impact your life in 10 minutes, 10 weeks, 10 months, 10 years?
- What scenarios can this filter be applied to?
The larger the expense or the greater the impact of a decision, the more time you should take to select the criteria for your filters.
Running decisions through your filter
Ideally, decision filters speed up decisions either in the moment or during the planning process. If the decision is complex, you may need to set up an Excel spreadsheet to visualize your filters in action, and to navigate the steps involved in making the decision.
If you run the current scenario through your decision filter and get to a yes/no answer, take the appropriate action and move on. If you get to a yes with conditions, then you will need to evaluate those decisions on a case-by-case basis.
Evaluating new opportunities
Filters don’t always have to have well-defined metrics. When exploring completely new opportunities you may only be aware of the broad categories that interest you or that you want to gain more experience.
Prior to any transition period in my career, I do an exercise where I write my future resume. This helps me to imagine a future reality and pursue a path towards it.
For your career, here are 4 questions to ask yourself as you write your future resume:
- Find people who have a similar job title or career path and who are 2 to 5 years ahead of you. What have they accomplished?
- What are the core attributes of their experience?
- What are the gaps in your experience that would need to be filled to get there from where you are now?
- What qualities, skills, knowledge, or other resources do you need in order to pursue opportunities to close the gap?
Following this process helped me to identify a gap in my resume relating to leadership experience. By examining the experiences of others a few years ahead of me, I knew that I needed to gain leadership experience. I wanted to directly interact with key decision makers, be responsible for representing a large group, and be in a position to have a tangible and immediate impact. With this goal in mind, I started looking for opportunities which ultimately led me to applying and being accepted for a leadership position within the newly formed graduate college at my university.
Summary
Being conscious of the decisions you make and developing processes for filtering those decisions can help you to reduce decision fatigue, be more creative, and achieve better outcomes in a world that offers ever increasing options.
Start small with everyday decisions and document your decision filters. Share your criteria with others and get feedback in order to improve your approach. Develop reliable processes, and you will very soon be in the regular habit of finding, evaluating, and taking action on the opportunities that become available to you.
Andrew Kuczmarski is a PhD candidate at the University of Delaware whose passion lies at the intersection of science and business.
Image: Unsplash