S3E01: Feelings in Decision Making - Friend or Foe

We need to stop thinking that the best decisions are ones made in an emotional vacuum. There's a cost to ignoring how we feel. At best we leave useful data on the table. But at worst, 

- we waste time beholden to emotions that do have a powerful hold over us

- we make decisions that deliver on the opposite of what we actually want

- we exhaust ourselves by only using a portion of the brainpower that we could possibly be using.

The more we can get curious about what is the feeling that's coming up and what is it telling us about our process, the more useful it can become in moving forward with a good decision.

If you have feelings come up, take a step back, not to ignore, but to observe. Take an engineering lens and try to get at what is the data, ask yourself: 

How can I learn more about these inputs for the decision problem I'm trying to solve? Where's that coming from? Why is this feeling coming up? Is it because there's a particular objective or value that is not being acknowledged? Is it because I feel constrained in my options? Do I have a sense of knowing my intuition and summary of past experiences? Is this a feeling stemming from a discomfort with not knowing? Perhaps it's simply the discomfort of not having reached a resolution yet.

 

To learn more from Michelle about decision making, check out

• The Ask A Decision Engineer website
• Her Stanford Continuing Studies course
• Her self-paced course Decision Toolkit for Personal Decisions 
• Her Decision Toolkit for Coaches and Counselors virtual workshop on Maven

About Michelle Florendo

Michelle Florendo is a distinguished decision engineer and executive coach who specializes in helping individuals navigate complex decisions in both personal and professional spheres. With a Bachelor of Science in Management Science and Engineering from Stanford University and an MBA from UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business, Michelle employs a sophisticated blend of decision engineering, design thinking, and lean startup methodologies to assist her clients in charting their optimal path forward. She has guided hundreds of driven professionals in applying decision engineering principles to achieve greater clarity and reduce stress in their decision-making processes.

She currently teaches a decision-making course for Stanford Continuing Studies and has played a pivotal role in enhancing the curriculum on career decision-making in Stanford's renowned Design Your Life course. Her expertise has been recognized by various prestigious organizations, as evidenced by her involvement with Seth Godin's altMBA program, her founding membership in the Forbes Coaches Council, and her position as a faculty coach for the Berkeley Executive Coaching Institute. For those interested in exploring Michelle's coaching and speaking services further, additional information can be found on her professional website at poweredbydecisions.com.