How changing your mind helps make better decisions

As manufacturing processes and technology evolve at lightening speed, how do you make the best decisions to allocate capital that will give the best return to shareholders? It’s easy to rely solely on the numbers when the benefits are obvious. But what about tough calls – decisions that are not so clear cut? What do you do then?

We’re often told to study the numbers and then trust our gut. But where does that gut feeling come from? What makes your gut say choose Option A while your business partner’s gut says choose Option B?

The answer lies in how our brain ‘talks’ with our body, and what message it is really sending.

The Sensory-Body Feedback Loop

The brain encounters the world through the senses. When we are looking at options for a decision our brain is just processing electrical signals.

When the signals from the senses hits the brain it interprets them so it knows what options are available. As part of this process the brain assesses what it has encountered before sending a signal to the body to let it know how it should react. We experience these signals as sensations (or feelings) in the body.

If the brain assesses one of the options as desirable, it will send a pleasant sensation to the body to let it know that there is a ‘good’ option available. Likewise, if it assesses a possible option as undesirable, then it will send a signal to the body to advise that a particular option is not good. We often say that we feel this in our gut.

But It’s Based in The Past, Not in the Options

The brain uses everything stored in its memory when making the assessment. As our memory is an artefact of the past, it is making the assessment based on what it has previously experienced. We might like to believe we can make decisions based on what we think will happened, but that prediction of the future is anchored in our memories.

When the body receives the sensation from the brain it reacts to take action. If the signal is desirable the body will react and take action to get more of that sensation. If the signal is not desirable it will react and take action to get less of it. And here in lies the truth behind making decisions with our gut: The body is reacting purely to what it feels comfortable with – not what is good for business.

Avoiding the Sensation Trap

Being ruled by the sensations in your body is not a bad thing. What is bad is being unaware that your being ruled by them.

To step out from being ruled unconsciously by them is a matter of raising your awareness of them.

When you feel an energetic sensation in your body ‘telling’ you to do something, pay 100% attention to it. Don’t judge it. Don’t make up a story or look for an answer in it. All it is doing is expressing the memories and ideas stored in you from the past.

When you pay attention to the sensations they will dissipate and their hold over you will weaken. Then you will be able to look at the situation in front of you and not react automatically, but rather act from a position of awareness based on the facts you are encountering, not the programming they are activating.

Making Better Decisions

It was Shakespeare who said, ‘Nothing is good or bad but thinking makes it so.’ If this is the case, the most optimal outcome is a better decision, as opposed to the right decision.

Making better decisions is not about ignoring or downplaying the sensations that we experience in our bodies. Evolution would not have given us this system if it wasn’t important.

Making better decisions is about understanding what is driving you. If you are being driven by your gut, understand that this is just a reaction to programming that will make the body feel comfortable – not what is good for business. Pay attention to these sensations and watch as they change and subside. When their grip over you has weakened you will be able to make a more objective decision as to what is better for your business.

Darren Fleming is an expert on mastering your mindset. He is a speaker, trainer and mentor to senior leaders wanting to master their mindset. His latest book Mindset Mastery – Do less. Achieve more is out now. Get sample chapters at www.MindsetMastery.online.