"The best decisions are made from information and logic."

Do you believe that? Is it a fact? What if it were just an assumption? What if you had the option to change this assumption or at least add new assumptions to the mix? How would it affect your ability to make better decisions in the future?

We all operate on a set of beliefs that drive how we think and act. We believe "X" to be true so we do "Y." But many times the things that we believe are not absolute facts - they are simply assumptions - and as long as they remain unquestioned they limit our options.

One great approach for expanding your options and enlarging your capacity to make good decisions and implement changes in your life is to explore your key assumptions. The concept that "the best decisions are made from information and logic" is just one of those fundamental assumptions that could use some investigation.

How does believing this assumption drive my behavior?

If you believe that the best decisions are made from information and logic, then naturally when you have a decision to make you will do two things:

• You will go out and gather all of the data that you think might be relevant to your decision.
• You will apply "logic" - the accepted patterned approach to conscious reasoning (e.g., cause and effect, induction, deduction) - to manipulate the data you gathered into a conclusion.

1. First, it is impossible to gather all of the information that might possibly affect a decision you need to make. There is just too much data and not enough time to find it all. Therefore, if you rely solely on facts and logic your decisions will always be imperfect because they will always be based on incomplete knowledge. What differentiates people is the degree of uncertainly they are willing to live with when they declare something to be true - some are comfortable making a decision when they feel they have 60% of the data - others don't feel comfortable unless they feel they have 95% of the data. But regardless of where you fall on this continuum - make no mistake - decisions based on data and logic are really just "best guesses" made with imperfect information.
2. There are two kinds of "data": external data - what you sense, and internal data - how you interpret what you sense. While our internal data is often the most powerful in influencing our decisions, we are often unable to access it at the conscious level. Therefore, our conscious logical decision-making processes are often missing key data points.

• You find it almost impossible to feel comfortable with any decision you make because there always seems to be more information needed.
• Decisions always feel rushed because the data gathering task is huge and there is never enough time to get all the facts.
• It is hard to accept full responsibility for any decision you make because, after all, you didn't have all of the data.
• You lose touch with the idea that there are other ways of "knowing."

Continued ...