There are no perfect decisions

We are constantly making decisions without ever really knowing what the outcome is going to be. It can at times feel overwhelming when we take the time to reflect on all the different choices we’ve made or seen made by others.

Where would the organisation be if they hadn’t got that big IT system? What would have happened if we’d chosen a different training provider? What would I be doing now if I hadn’t quit my job and gone travelling at 29? Some are big, some not so big. All impactful.

The right choice can at times feel immediately obvious. Applying for that promotion you always wanted, implementing an exciting new way of working or setting up a new service you know can make a difference. You just know.

Other choices feel harder. Should I move abroad? Should I go freelance? In these instances, we often take more time to reflect on why we are making a particular decision or choice. We seek out different voices and evidence because we aren’t sure and we want help.

In my experience, a lot of the choices that felt quick and easy at the time left me wondering whether I had got them right. That new job doesn’t allow us to change the system in the way we hoped. We come home from travelling in 2011 when jobs are scarce and we have to take a 30% pay cut on what we used to earn (this was me!)

So the obvious answer is that we should slow down. Tap into a bit of Daniel Kahneman’s fast and slow thinking and engage the rational side of our brain.

The problem I have with this two-systems approach is that I have also felt doubt about the more deliberate decisions I’ve made. Even with great planning and insight things don’t always go the way you think they will or the way you hoped. Solutions with the best evidence aren’t always the best answer.

Some of the more instinctive decisions I’ve made have led to the most interesting and impactful things I’ve been a part of. These wouldn’t have happened if I’d been purely logical and rational about all my decisions.

The important lesson for me is that my confidence in a decision, or the ease with which I have made it, does not clearly link to how I feel about them later. Even how I feel about a decision changes over time and even from day to day. What can feel like a mistake one day can feel like a success another day.

It is always powerful to reflect on the paths we have taken and the choices we have made. It is important to learn from these — as individuals, as teams, and as organisations. But in the same way that we cannot make a perfect decision, there is also no perfect hindsight. It shifts and moves and changes all the time.

The big pay cut on returning from living abroad made me think that maybe I should never have gone. But what I learnt at Odanadi is with me forever and the job I got shaped me more than any role I’ve had before or since (cheers HENRY.) Would I have a better pension now if I hadn’t left? Sure. Maybe an extra promotion or two? Potentially. I’ll also never know…and that is fine.