By Isabelle de Vooght
Online Career Tips, Special Contributor
When faced with decision making time, whether in your professional or personal life, you sometimes doubt your ability to reach that decision. That is when hesitation comes in and you wonder if you are making the right decision. Anybody who has ever purchased something valuable such as a house or a vehicle; or made an investment knows what I am talking about. Hesitations are more likely to occur when weighing the pros and cons of two alternatives before reaching a final decision. So what could end up being the deciding factor? Intuition!
While intuition is subconscious and complex it often plays a key role in decision making by helping analysts interpret the data used in the pure rational-analytical methods. The same goes for people who aren’t necessarily analysts, but just trying to reach a conclusion with the information available to them. We might not realize this but research* has shown that intuition (or at least part of it) is acquired thanks to years of experience and allows us to extrapolate bits of data and experiences into an integrated picture.
Next time you are faced with a dilemma at work or at home and are hesitant to make a commitment, sleep on it, follow your intuition, and trust your experience. This decision can sometimes result in walking away all together from an opportunity.
* To learn more about the role of intuition in decision making: N. Khatri and H. & Ng – The role of intuition in strategic decision making (2000). Human Relations 53 (1), pp. 57-86.
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