How to make faster decisions

1. Match the questions (1-8) with appropriate answers (a-h).

1) How often do you have to think on your feet at work? Do you like it? e
2) When was the last snap decision you made? What was it about? d
3) Do you think that having a choice is overwhelming? f
4) What kind of decisions do you outsource at work? g
5) Do you ever flip a coin to make a decision? When was the last time you did it?c
6) Do you have to take a lot of make-or-break decisions at work? h
7) How much time do you spend on taking minor decisions? b
8) What decision you’ve recently made has had an unexpected outcome? a

a) The market research questions I approved turned out to be inaccurate and we got
answers that are totally useless.
b) As little as possible. If I find something rather trivial, I don’t waste time on thinking too
much about it.
c) Actually, I sometimes do. The last time I let fate decide was when I couldn’t choose
between two desk lamps for my office.
d) It was two weeks ago and I had to quickly decide about a venue for the IT conference
we’re organizing.
e) Fortunately, I don’t have to do it often because I really hate taking decisions when I don’t
have much time.
f) Definitely. The more options you have, the more frustrating it becomes to choose only one.
g) I try to delegate decision-making processes which I know my team will deal with fine
without me.
h) As a Finance Director I make a lot of such important decisions which can have huge
positive or negative effects.

2. Watch the beginning of a video

[https://www.facebook.com/TEDsTheWayWeWork/videos/2501704676774371/ ] up to 1:15
and explain what FOBO means.
FOBO is to come when you struggle to choose one from a group of perfectly acceptable
options.

3. Watch the rest of the video and fill in the table below.
DECISION TYPE MEANING EXAMPLE

No-stakes

Low-stakes

High-stakes
4. Look at the pictures below, then watch the whole video again and note down what
these pictures refer to.

5. Fill in the gaps with the words from the box.

gut twice minds account down thoughts

a) Before making a final decision, you should take all factors into ………………..
b) You're not having second ………………. about getting married, are you?
c) I’m in two ………………. about accepting the job. I’m just not sure whether it’s the right
time.
d) I didn’t think ………………. – I accepted the job straight away. It’s once-in-alifetime
opportunity.
e) Now the choice should be easier because I narrowed the list ………………. to just two
options.
f) When appointing Alice as a Vice-President, I trusted my ………………. and it seems I
should do it more often because it was a great decision.

6. In the video, Patrick McGinnis presented some strategies for making decisions.
Look at the list of various strategies below and discuss in groups whether you use
them and for what type of decisions.

• list of pros and cons for each option

• create a scoring system
• reduce the number of deciding factors to minimum
• talk it through with somebody
• ask for a different perspective
• choose randomly one of the options
• trust your gut
• put off the decision until you have better options gut twice minds account down thoughts