If you’re like me, you’ve had fantastic ideas in the shower. But when you’ve tried to recall them while drying off, they’re nowhere to be found in your memory. So why is this? Simple. When the brain introduces a bright idea or insight, it does so into your short-term, or working, memory. Unfortunately, thoughts in short-term memory only last three to five seconds before they are flushed out of the way by the next incoming thought or stimuli. The only way to capture these great ideas in through instant rehearsal. In other words, you’ve got to stop whatever you’re doing immediately and focus ALL of your attention on that great idea. Here’s an example:
Not long ago, I was taking a shower and thinking about something I had to teach in an upcoming seminar. Suddenly, it dawned on me exactly how to explain the concept. But not having anything to write with, I began to write it on the steamy shower door. Even though I knew these words would disappear within seconds as the steam from the show erased them, I was mentally rehearsing them and moving this explanation from short-term to long-term memory. When I got out of the shower, the first thing I did was grab paper and pen write them down along with any other associated thoughts and ideas. I still have that water-stained paper because just looking at it helps me to remember the concept.
You can do the same thing, in the shower, while you’re driving, pushing a shopping cart, chatting with a friend, or anywhere else. The key is instantaneous rehearsal. Drop what you’re doing and focus all of your attention on recording the idea. Don’t believe this works? Ask the smart-decision makers you know. They’ll tell you similar stories.
“Getting to Yes” Decisions
Thirty years ago, Roger Fisher and William Ury published their bestselling negotiating book, Getting to Yes. One of the key strategies they espoused was to resolve the easiest issues first and work toward the more difficult ones. By the time you reach the most critical issue, they argued, you will already have momentum by coming to agreement on the smaller disputes first.
The same might be said of making critical decisions. It is only natural to focus on the “elephant in the room” when trying to make a big decision. That obstacle can seem insurmountable when viewed in isolation. But most big decisions are really a collection of smaller decisions. If you approach the big obstacle by breaking it down into its incremental challenges, you relieve some of this pressure.
Consider the purchase of a house – Yes, the purchase itself is a big decision, filled with emotion, the unknown and the fear of making a mistake. But this decision is really broken down into lots of smaller choices – house layout, number of bedrooms, amenities, financing, location, schools, access to stores and entertainment, commuting time, taxes, proximity to friends and family. Given a piece of paper, we could all list an additional dozen factors or more.
But few people take time to list and prioritize all these elements in a rational way. Once you have and considered each element individually, many of the smaller decisions become easy to make. As they do, some of the pressure over making the biggest decision is relieved. In a way, it’s almost like a jigsaw puzzle coming together. Besides, once you’ve made the decision and experienced the inevitable buyer’s remorse, you can go back and remind yourself of the reasons why you made the choices you did. This technique of listing and prioritizing can be applied to most any significant decisions. But too often, we allow ourselves to be distracted by other’s opinions, the endless advice on social media, our natural impatience, and the worry associated with making irreversible choices. Does this process require some concentration and self-discipline? Of course. But any decision with lasting consequences requires these traits. Once you’ve developed these practices, they become easier to implement every time you are faced with a big decision. This is one of the keys to becoming a smart decision-maker.