This is something I personally struggle with and since a couple of readers asked me to do a post about this I thought I’d address it. If you have a trait or person you would like me to look at, please email me via the contact page at Alpha-traits.com.

When I say I struggle with decision making, I don’t mean I spend 20 minutes deciding what color socks to wear in the morning, I mean I struggle with big decisions. Hard. The ones that change lives.

The thing about big decisions is that there are always unknowns involved. Usually, that’s when the decisions become difficult. If you can’t figure out the consequences of your decisions, you might as well flip a coin to decide, since it’s just guesswork anyway!

A difficult decision I had to make recently involved a fundraising expedition to Mount Everest that I had signed up for. I hadn’t reached the target required to go and had to make a decision to either put up £1.5K of my own funds or cancel, losing all the funds I had already raised.

In the end, I decided not to go. I’m not sure how my decision will affect the future, only time will tell. However, I thought about it a lot and used some of the methods that Churchill would have used and that is the best I could have done.

Winston Churchill led Britain triumphantly through some of the darkest years the world has ever seen: World War II. Like many wartime leaders, Churchill had to make many difficult decisions, there was no getting around it.

Perhaps one of the most difficult decisions Churchill faced came in the summer of 1940 when France surrendered to Germany, leaving the English Channel as the last line of defense between Britain and the Nazis. Although the French army was crippled, its navy was surprisingly strong. The Nazis were preparing to capture this Navy and, if successful, would leave the British incredibly vulnerable to attack and invasion.

Churchill’s decision: trust the French would never let the ships fall into Nazi hands or destroy the fleet himself.

On July 3, 1940, the order was given to attack the French fleet, claiming the lives of more than 1,300 French sailors. It was a decision that would reverberate throughout history and to this day the French remember it as “the Pearl Harbor of France.”

Decision Making Lessons Learned from Churchill

  • Any decision you have to make in life will not be as difficult as Churchill’s. The decision to end a life is a difficult one, imagine 1300. So, first of all, you have to remember that your decision is probably not life or death.

  • Don’t make a decision until you are calm and neutral. A good metaphor to remember this is “Don’t make threats when you’re angry and don’t make promises when you’re happy.” The key to good decision making is to remove all emotion.

  • Trust your gut. You may not realize it, but you are the end result of millions of years of evolution. You are the finished product. That gut feeling you get is something your ancestors have developed to know when something is wrong. Listen to him, 9 times out of 10 he’s right.

  • The best, the expected and the worst. This is a very good technique for making decisions. You imagine the best possible scenario that can result from your decision. For Churchill, it was likely that the Nazis would not take control of the French navy and everything would work out without his interference. The hope is that the Nazis will at least try to make a move on the French navy. The worst thing would be for the Nazis to take control of the navy, invade England and kill everyone. In this case, the worst and expected far outweigh the best.

  • Past and present. This theory is a bit more complex. You have to imagine a week, a month, 6 months and a year before your decision. What will the future be like that you feel about your decision? Would I appreciate it if you made that decision? Decisions always seem easier in hindsight, so really try to put yourself in that future position.

  • similar decisions. Have you made a decision similar to the one you must make now? Think about the consequences or how you felt afterwards.