{"id":22090,"date":"2020-12-21T09:02:32","date_gmt":"2020-12-21T13:02:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=22090"},"modified":"2021-01-03T19:13:12","modified_gmt":"2021-01-03T23:13:12","slug":"how-to-make-decisions-faster","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-make-decisions-faster\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Make Decisions Faster and Have Less Regret"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Do you want to know how to make decisions faster? How can reducing deliberation help you have less regret?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Learning how to make decisions faster may feel like you&#8217;re going against your rational side. But learning to reduce deliberation can help you spend your time more wisely and have fewer regrets. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Keep reading to find out how to make decisions faster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>How to Make Decisions Faster: Reduce Deliberation<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Making decisions is exhausting because it takes time, energy, and attention.<\/strong> Note that it\u2019s not the <em>number <\/em>of decisions we make that\u2019s exhausting, it\u2019s the number of resources we use deliberating. For example, when you\u2019re buying something, the more options you have are directly correlated with the amount of buyer\u2019s regret you\u2019ll have, and with how happy you\u2019ll be with your choice.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There are six ways to learn how to make decisions faster and reduce deliberation:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>1. Automate decisions by making rules.<\/strong> Treat yourself the same way you treat your coworkers and outsourcers\u2014make rules regarding certain actions and follow them in every case so you don\u2019t have to think.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>For example, immediately delete any email that has the subject \u201cchain letter.\u201d<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>2. Don\u2019t look for problems you can\u2019t immediately solve.<\/strong> If you\u2019re not in a position to do something about a problem (for example, it\u2019s Friday night and everyone has left work for the week), avoid learning about it. If you find out about it, it\u2019ll bounce around in your brain until you can fix it, distracting you from relaxing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>3. Don\u2019t procrastinate decisions.<\/strong> If you already know your decision but are procrastinating giving it because it might make someone uncomfortable, stop. Give it now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>For example, if you don\u2019t want to go for dinner with someone, say you\u2019re pretty sure you\u2019re otherwise occupied but if that changes, you\u2019ll let them know.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>4. Make non-critical decisions quickly.<\/strong> If a decision isn\u2019t about something important, give yourself a time limit, option limit, or if it costs less than a certain amount, get someone else to choose such as your VA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>5. Continue routines unless deviating is fun.<\/strong> Only look for variation when it will increase your enjoyment, otherwise, stick with routine.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>For example, the author eats the same breakfast and lunch every day, but he chooses something different every day for dinner.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>6. Stop complaining.<\/strong> You complain because you regret decisions you made in the past. Notice every time you complain to avoid engaging in negative emotions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Do you want to know how to make decisions faster? How can reducing deliberation help you have less regret? Learning how to make decisions faster may feel like you&#8217;re going against your rational side. But learning to reduce deliberation can help you spend your time more wisely and have fewer regrets. Keep reading to find out how to make decisions faster.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":10028,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[42,9,43],"tags":[175],"class_list":["post-22090","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-motivation","category-psychology","category-self-improvement","tag-the-4-hour-workweek","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>How to Make Decisions Faster and Have Less Regret - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Do you want to know how to make decisions faster? Here&#039;s how you can reduce deliberation to have less stress and less regret.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-make-decisions-faster\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How to Make Decisions Faster and Have Less Regret\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Do you want to know how to make decisions faster? Here&#039;s how you can reduce deliberation to have less stress and less regret.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-make-decisions-faster\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-12-21T13:02:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-01-03T23:13:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/getting-things-done-lists-getting-things-done-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1707\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Carrie Cabral\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Carrie Cabral\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-make-decisions-faster\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-make-decisions-faster\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Carrie Cabral\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/2ababb7c63a94ff5d2190f71dc417d56\"},\"headline\":\"How to Make Decisions Faster and Have Less Regret\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-12-21T13:02:32+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-01-03T23:13:12+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-make-decisions-faster\/\"},\"wordCount\":430,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-make-decisions-faster\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/getting-things-done-lists-getting-things-done-scaled.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"The 4-Hour Workweek\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Motivation\",\"Psychology\",\"Self-Improvement\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-make-decisions-faster\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-make-decisions-faster\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-make-decisions-faster\/\",\"name\":\"How to Make Decisions Faster and Have Less Regret - Shortform Books\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-make-decisions-faster\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-make-decisions-faster\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/getting-things-done-lists-getting-things-done-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-12-21T13:02:32+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-01-03T23:13:12+00:00\",\"description\":\"Do you want to know how to make decisions faster? Here's how you can reduce deliberation to have less stress and less regret.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-make-decisions-faster\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-make-decisions-faster\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-make-decisions-faster\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/getting-things-done-lists-getting-things-done-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/getting-things-done-lists-getting-things-done-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1707},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-make-decisions-faster\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"How to Make Decisions Faster and Have Less Regret\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Shortform Books\",\"description\":\"The World&#039;s Best Book Summaries\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Shortform Books\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png\",\"width\":500,\"height\":74,\"caption\":\"Shortform Books\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/2ababb7c63a94ff5d2190f71dc417d56\",\"name\":\"Carrie Cabral\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e9aea3c95254368e6bf388b046b35bacb82e4167f4c62c0813620e3a4ec51126?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e9aea3c95254368e6bf388b046b35bacb82e4167f4c62c0813620e3a4ec51126?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Carrie Cabral\"},\"description\":\"Carrie has been reading and writing for as long as she can remember, and has always been open to reading anything put in front of her. She wrote her first short story at the age of six, about a lost dog who meets animal friends on his journey home. Surprisingly, it was never picked up by any major publishers, but did spark her passion for books. Carrie worked in book publishing for several years before getting an MFA in Creative Writing. She especially loves literary fiction, historical fiction, and social, cultural, and historical nonfiction that gets into the weeds of daily life.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/author\/carrie\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"How to Make Decisions Faster and Have Less Regret - Shortform Books","description":"Do you want to know how to make decisions faster? Here's how you can reduce deliberation to have less stress and less regret.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-make-decisions-faster\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"How to Make Decisions Faster and Have Less Regret","og_description":"Do you want to know how to make decisions faster? Here's how you can reduce deliberation to have less stress and less regret.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-make-decisions-faster\/","og_site_name":"Shortform Books","article_published_time":"2020-12-21T13:02:32+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-01-03T23:13:12+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1707,"url":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/getting-things-done-lists-getting-things-done-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Carrie Cabral","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Carrie Cabral","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-make-decisions-faster\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-make-decisions-faster\/"},"author":{"name":"Carrie Cabral","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/2ababb7c63a94ff5d2190f71dc417d56"},"headline":"How to Make Decisions Faster and Have Less Regret","datePublished":"2020-12-21T13:02:32+00:00","dateModified":"2021-01-03T23:13:12+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-make-decisions-faster\/"},"wordCount":430,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-make-decisions-faster\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/getting-things-done-lists-getting-things-done-scaled.jpg","keywords":["The 4-Hour Workweek"],"articleSection":["Motivation","Psychology","Self-Improvement"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-make-decisions-faster\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-make-decisions-faster\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-make-decisions-faster\/","name":"How to Make Decisions Faster and Have Less Regret - Shortform Books","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-make-decisions-faster\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-make-decisions-faster\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/getting-things-done-lists-getting-things-done-scaled.jpg","datePublished":"2020-12-21T13:02:32+00:00","dateModified":"2021-01-03T23:13:12+00:00","description":"Do you want to know how to make decisions faster? Here's how you can reduce deliberation to have less stress and less regret.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-make-decisions-faster\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-make-decisions-faster\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-make-decisions-faster\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/getting-things-done-lists-getting-things-done-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/getting-things-done-lists-getting-things-done-scaled.jpg","width":2560,"height":1707},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-make-decisions-faster\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"How to Make Decisions Faster and Have Less Regret"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/","name":"Shortform Books","description":"The World&#039;s Best Book Summaries","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Shortform Books","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png","width":500,"height":74,"caption":"Shortform Books"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/2ababb7c63a94ff5d2190f71dc417d56","name":"Carrie Cabral","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e9aea3c95254368e6bf388b046b35bacb82e4167f4c62c0813620e3a4ec51126?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e9aea3c95254368e6bf388b046b35bacb82e4167f4c62c0813620e3a4ec51126?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Carrie Cabral"},"description":"Carrie has been reading and writing for as long as she can remember, and has always been open to reading anything put in front of her. She wrote her first short story at the age of six, about a lost dog who meets animal friends on his journey home. Surprisingly, it was never picked up by any major publishers, but did spark her passion for books. Carrie worked in book publishing for several years before getting an MFA in Creative Writing. She especially loves literary fiction, historical fiction, and social, cultural, and historical nonfiction that gets into the weeds of daily life.","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/author\/carrie\/"}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/getting-things-done-lists-getting-things-done-scaled.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22090","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22090"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22090\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22664,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22090\/revisions\/22664"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10028"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22090"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22090"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22090"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}