This blog is mostly about making decision making and its tagline is making better choices. I started out the blog mostly to promote my book about relationships called “So You Want to Get into Courtship”. Years later I felt that success in relationship and in any other human endeavor was all about making certain choices. It was the quality of decision made by the individual that determined their quality of life and attendant consequences. Based on this understanding, I set out to investigate and study more about decision making and decision making processes and productivity and everything to do with making better choices in every dimension of one’s life. To be a good decision maker one must be radically open minded. Being radically open minded is phrase borrowed from Raymond Dalio of Bridge Water Associates. In his book, Principles, Ray Dalio explores the topic of decision making by intimating that good decisions are result of being radically open minded. Here we will discuss 5 ways of in which one can become radically open minded based on Ray Dalio’s Principles.
- Use pain as guide towards deep reflection. Be keen to identify if you feel pain whenever someone challenges you about an idea or a concept that you hold too deeply. This pain manifests in form of ager, irritation and tension in the body. This pain is a sign of close mindedness. Whenever you feel such pain, be calm and admit that you could be wrong.
- Make open-mindedness a habit. Consistently use feelings of anger as signs that you need to slow down and approach the issue more thoughtfully. By consistently being open minded you can easily learn to overcome amygdala hijackings and emotions that ruin decision making.
- Know your blind spots. Identify and keenly list the areas where you have consistently made poor decisions. Record the circumstances in which you have made bad decisions. Whenever you find yourself about to make decisions in these areas, ensure that you have consulted others. Otherwise you will be risking and you will not get different results.
- Be evidence based. Do not just make decisions based on your subconscious and your feelings. Use evidence. Objectively use facts and evidence when making choices.
- Meditate. Take time to think silently alone. Consciously and deliberately allocate time to think and meditate and reflect. Most people just think on the go, but to be radically open minded you have to take time to reflect and think deeply.
These are some of the actionable steps that any individual can take to improve their decision making by being radically open minded. By being radically open minded, it becomes easy to make better choices because one cannot be influenced by biases, emotions and mental blind spots.
