Author: Cheryl Strauss Einhorn | 3 minute read
Mistakes often provide our biggest opportunities to learn and grow. But how can we avoid falling into the same traps repeatedly? Cheryl Strauss Einhorn’s article outlines constructive ways to make choices that lead to better outcomes. Key points from the article are provided below. To read the full article, follow the hyperlink at the end.
What I’ve also learned in my work researching and writing about decision-making is that too often we don’t want to spend time and mental energy revisiting the past, especially if it contains uncomfortable missteps. But stopping and looking carefully at those mistakes is exactly what can help us make better decisions moving forward. – Cheryl Strauss Einhorn
To apply lessons from your past decisions to your current situation, I recommend asking the following questions:
1. What is the decision you’re facing now?
The first step in a thoughtful decision process is to get clear on the current problem that you want to solve. While this may sound straightforward, I often find that people skip this step which may lead to an incomplete or unsatisfactory solution. At times people begin problem solving from inside the problem and define it too narrowly, or they even skip over the problem itself to a solution they’d like to achieve.
2. What is it about the current decision that is stressful for you, and what is your go-to approach for solving it?
This question helps you reduce uncertainty in two ways. First, identifying what’s uncomfortable about the decision you face brings the uncertainty forward so that you may explore it more fully as you complete the reflection questions. This is useful because stress can affect decision-making in negative ways as it puts demand on our cognitive resources. That, in turn, may limit our ability to make novel decisions and adapt to change, guiding the brain to resort to habitual decision-making.
Second, research suggests that stress may strengthen our existing cognitive biases. Taking the time to identify particular stressors allows us to confront mental short-cuts and unhelpful assumptions.
3. What are one or two previous decisions that you want to learn from? What didn’t go well? Why do you think it didn’t go well?
You cannot begin to change any of your behaviors – including decision-making behaviors — until you confront them. These questions help you look directly at past mistakes to articulate what went wrong.
4. With 20/20 hindsight, what assumptions did you make that might have contributed to the outcome?
Answering this question gives you an opportunity to extract lessons from your past decisions. Your answers may lead you to feel more confident about some aspect of a decision you liked, and to make a change if you prefer to do something differently.
5. How might you apply your learning to the current decision you face?
This question allows you to turn what you learned into insight and action for a better future. By analyzing and explaining problems in the past, you are now better positioned to see actions, habits and patterns that might otherwise be invisible in the present. This crucial perspective can help you avoid making the same mistakes again in the future.
6. What is your solution now?
As you answer this question, you should see your growth in decision-making. You’ve inspected and evaluated your thoughts, feelings, and behavior, enabling you to make observations about your past that provide clarity and insight to move forward in a new direction.
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As you move forward, consider how Cheryl’s suggestions might be applied in both personal and professional settings. The goal is to treat every mistake or mishap as an opportunity to learn and grow. To read the full article, click here.
Reference:
Harvard Business Review (2024, September 25) Cheryl Strauss Einhorn: How to Learn from Your Mistakes and Make Better Decisions
