Make Better Decisions By Pretending You Are Advising A Friend


When you’re faced with a tough choice, it’s easy to let emotions get in the way and cloud your decision. The New York Times suggests that one way to get over this is to pretend you are giving advice to a friend on what to do.

Picture: Alex Guerrero/Flickr

The idea here is to distance yourself from the decision, which is easier said than done. However, if you consider it as advice you would give, you can get yourself out of your own head for a minute:

When short-term emotions threaten to swamp long-term considerations, [author] Chip Heath suggests that a simple yet highly effective way to think about a difficult decision is to consider what you would recommend to your best friend.

“When we step back and simulate someone else, it’s a clarifying move,” he said.

Distancing yourself is always good when making a decision, and this is one way to reframe the choice and consider it from another angle so you don’t have a natural reaction that prevents a good decision.

When You Don’t Do What You Meant To, and Don’t Know Why [New York Times]


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