Decision-making can be a very personal thing. And yet listing pros and cons and making a choice which seems to be the most “rational,” but which feels uncomfortable, will often prove to be a decision one regrets. Also, our gut can be loaded with unidentified biases that will lead us astray, or with a flimsy preference of the moment, that may lead to regret in the longer term when a decision still binds us. How should we think about decision-making? What should we do when our gut is not helpful, and our brain is overwhelmed?

When things are not going in the right direction, the Toyota “5 Whys” may be helpful. This process says to take the problem and try to identify the immediate cause. Then look at the cause of that step and so on, going back at least five steps for a more thorough fix to a problem. [E.g., You are often late to work, because you oversleep, because you hit the snooze button, because you stay up late watching TV, because you need a dose of humor, because you are really stressed at work. This reveals that just setting your alarm clock earlier may not solve the underlying issue.]

If a decision involves goal setting you might want to follow a set of questions I’ve seen attributed to a public figure. What do I want? Why do I want it? How do I get it? Each needs some sub-questions to flesh out your thinking, but imagine putting these two together, the Whys help you identify the issue and then you can think about how to go about making change.

Another framework points out that as you work through thinking about a topic there are three levels for looking at a question-- What? So What? Now What? The What asks you to define your topic. The So What asks you to explain why it matters. The Now What asks you to think about action steps to rectify a problem or create something new. Whether you are seeking to energize volunteers or get an assistant at work, being able to express the answers to all three What questions will advance your cause, and working through all of the questions may help you see that an appealing action won’t actually serve to get you what you want, no matter how right it may feel in the moment. These methods can work together to help us find clarity.

Helpful as these patterns may be they need an addition. At each step we must look at the impact on other individuals or groups and on the environment. Multiple Whys and So Whats do make the possible Now What solutions complex to explore.

There are so many huge issues facing us today. We don’t want to waste time and energy on imprecise, poorly targeted actions just because they feel good. But if it all seems like just too much, check out the PBS series A Brief History of the Future. The creativity with which some people are tackling problems like plastic in the ocean are so exciting! Build your scaffold and keep looking for solutions!