When I think about a lot of the good things that have happened to me over the course of my life so far, a huge number of them can be directly attributed to my willingness to act very quickly. I think that the benefits of near-instant decision making, even/especially on big decisions, are hugely underrated.
Right now I’m on a train running between The Hague and Amsterdam in the middle of a five-country two-week trip. The flight cost me $300 because I saw a deal pop up and booked the flight within minutes. I wasn’t planning on going to any of these countries, but the opportunity knocked and I answered.
Living with the pickup artists in Los Angeles was a major turning point in my life. I continue to benefit from that decision, even though I was probably the least qualified person to live in that house at the time. The only reason I got the spot was because I called immediately upon finding out that it was open. Many others were considering it, but while they were waffling, I pounced.
The decision to purchase the island happened within 72 hours. Maybe it would have stayed for sale forever and we did have the luxury of time, but maybe not. Since that time I haven’t seen nearly as good an island for sale in that price range.
That’s not to say that instant decisions are always good ones. I’ve eaten a few airplane tickets because I booked immediately and then decided not to go. Sometimes being overeager sends the wrong message. But objectively, taking a rough account of the pros and cons, making quick decisions has been an overwhelmingly positive experience for me. And of those times where I’ve deliberated, usually because of fear, I’ve almost always eventually made the decision I would have made instantly.
I think people really underestimate how important it is to make very quick decisions. You get way more of the opportunities due to you. You spend much less time agonizing over choices that may not even matter that much. The time pressure makes you a better decider.
You get better at making quick decisions through practice. Even if your decisions aren’t amazing at first, you’ll still end up ahead in the end because you’ll receive big benefits once you do become good at it.
You can keep a decision log if you’re too nervous to actually act quickly. Write down what you would have done if you had to decide quickly, and then once you make a slow decision, see whether time changed the outcome. And, if it did, which one would have been better?
One of the best ways to get good at decision making, and the method I attribute my own skill to, is playing poker. In poker you must take a huge number of factors, quickly triage those that don’t matter so much, combine those that remain, and make a real-consequences decision within seconds. This is the real benefit of poker playing, not the making of money or the enjoyment.
Whether it takes you a very long time to make decisions or not, experiment with speeding them up. I’ve seen a lot of people who think they make quick decisions, but actually take long enough to miss out on a fair amount of opportunities. Most of us will be given a lot of moments to seize, but those moments disappear if we wait too long.
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Photo is taken at Red Rocks, around 30 minutes from the strip in Las Vegas. Go hike next time you’re there. Side note: I bought my place there sight-unseen as fast as humanly possible. Quick decision?
Sorry for the delay in posting this week. Had a splitting headache after my flight Monday morning, and yesterday was packed with catching up with people. Should have scheduled in advance.
I’m supposed to go to Dubai and Delhi on Monday, but I’m thinking about skipping. Any really compelling reason to go?
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