Idea = Avoid 'Resulting'.

Bad outcomes often, misleadingly, get presented as proof of bad decisions. In her book Thinking in Bets, poker pro Annie Duke shows us why we need to separates decisions from outcomes — and how we can.

You can pick up a copy of Annie's book in the Library at YCN, or buy one here.

This short film from Big Thinks distills some of the key thinking neatly:

Here's Annie in conversation with the Farnam St podcast about the ideas in Thinking in Bets.

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Idea = "Counteract indecision with a growth mindset

Carol Dweck, a researcher at Stanford University, coined the terms fixed and growth mindset to describe the beliefs people have about learning and intelligence. They're very relevant to the ways we decide.

Watch Carol give a talk on the Growth Vs Fixed Mindset:

Nudging teams and company cultures towards Growth Mindset, a piece at Farnam Street:
https://fs.blog/2016/11/workplace-mindset/

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Idea = Try on a different hat!

Sometimes, decisions love diversity. Edward de Bono's Six Thinking Hats is a proven tool to help us look at problems, choices and opportunities from different perspectives — See how it works, and try it with your team here.

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Idea = Questions are the answer

Einstein memorably said, "“If I had an hour to solve a problem I'd spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and five minutes thinking about solutions.”

Often we rush to solve a problem, and so we end up solving the wrong one. And the same can be said for decisions — we rush to the wrong one.

This is where the Questions Burst tool comes in handy.

Here's some more from the man behind it.

and some reading on HBR here too.

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Read: Rebel Ideas by Matthew Syed

As you've discovered with de Bono's thinking hats, a diverse range of options can't exist without diversity of thought. In his insightful bestselling book, journalist and author Matthew Syed discusses how crucial cognitive difference is to innovation and decision making, and how tragic it is that people want their own thoughts and ideas reflected back at them. You can also watch a brief summary of some of the ideas in this beautifully animated RSA short.

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A stack of brilliant books for better decisions.

Farsighted, by Steven Johnson

Quick-thinking decision making is a crucial 'in the moment,' skill, but what about the decisions with long-term consequences - where we live, who we marry, what we want to be? Drawing on everything from social psychology to military history, Steven Johnson sets a fluid framework for making the big decisions that matter the most.

Decisive, by Chip, and Dan Heath

It's no surprise that even the most intelligent, introspective and strategic minds among us can make huge mistakes when making decisions, but why is this the case when decision making is such a simple, learnable craft? In 'Decisive,' sibling professors Chip and Dan Heath explore the human mind, reveal the pitfalls in our decision making and blueprint the bridges over them.

Thinking Fast and Slow, by Daniel Kahneman

Nobel prize winning behavioural economist and psychologist Daniel Kahneman lays bare his decades of research in 'Thinking Fast and Slow;' giving us the grand-tour of our own brains and revealing how, and why, we make the decisions we make.

Thinking in Bets, by Annie Duke

We stake a lot of value in confidence and certainty, but can we be certain of a decision if we don't have all the facts? 'Absolutely,' says former poker-star turned business consultant Annie Duke who, in her intuitive book, steps out her method for thinking in terms of probability, and not beating yourself up over a good decision with a bad outcome.