Don't decide in the dark

How to get a better feel for your decisions

Elliot tested well on IQ, memory, learning and language. His scores aren’t all that remarkable until you consider one important fact: he’s missing part of his brain.

During surgery that ultimately saved his life, Elliot’s ventromedial prefrontal cortex was removed. In case you’re not a neuroscientist, that’s the lower front part of your brain responsible for processing emotions.

Following the surgery, everything seemed fine. Elliot’s IQ didn’t drop and he remained well aware of the world around him. But his life was falling apart. He got fired, divorced, remarried and divorced again.

Elliot was making bad decisions. The reason why might surprise you.

Rational decisions

When you have an important decision to make, do you try to think rationally?

Do you ignore your emotions and process the information as objectively as you can?

Most people say you should take emotion out of the equation when making important decisions. Thanks to Elliot, we know that’s a bad choice.

When Elliot’s doctors couldn’t figure out what was wrong with him, they referred him to Antonio Damasio, a prominent neuroscientist. Damasio found that Elliot’s intellect was intact, but his emotions were gone.

In his book Descartes’ Error, Damasio describes being most fascinated by what else Elliot lost along with his emotions—his decision making.

Despite only being capable of rational thought, Elliot could no longer make decisions. He once spent a whole day at work staring at a pile of papers trying to decide the best way to organize them.

He lost his job because he couldn’t decide. He couldn’t decide because he lost his emotions.

Emotional decision making

You need your emotions to make great decisions.

The challenge is how to use your emotions well. Too emotional and you make rash choices you’ll later regret. Not enough emotion and your decisions suck or get stuck.

When you’re feeling overly emotional, take time to step away and come back to the decision once you’ve cooled off.

When it is time to decide, don’t ignore your emotions, use them.

Here’s how:

1. List the rational factors in your decision (e.g., price, speed, quality, etc.)

2. Add a factor for your “gut feel”

3. Make a decision considering each factor, including your feelings

The best way to use your emotions to make better decisions is to factor them in just as you would any other consideration like price, speed or quality.

Rational analysis may suggest you buy a mini-van, but when you factor in your feelings, you might decide to buy something else. That your emotions swayed your decision isn’t bad—it’s better decision making.

You shouldn’t decide based only on your feelings all the time, but you also don’t want to ignore your emotions entirely.

Labelling your emotions and considering them as you would any other factor helps you put your feelings in the right place.

Photo by Milad Fakurian on Unsplash

Factor in your feelings

Elliot, and others like him, have helped shine a light on the crucial role emotions play in your decisions. Doctors knew Elliot was rational, so they assumed his hard times must be the result of his bad decisions.

What no one realized until Damasio stepped in was that it was Elliot’s physiological lack of emotion that prohibited good decision making.

Be sure to shine a light on your own emotions. They’ll help you make better decisions.

Try it yourself: The next decision you face, try factoring in your feelings.

See how your opinion changes when you do.

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😂 P.S. A terrible joke, try not to laugh…

I asked my dad to tell me about a decision he regretted.

I must have stumped him because he just kept staring at me.