Have you ever made a choice based on a gut feeling? Or decided against something because it just didn't "feel right"? If so, you've experienced how emotions affect your decisions. In this blog, I want to talk about something we all face every day - how our feelings shape our choices, especially when we need to make them quickly.
Garvit Sahdev enjoys understanding the ideas that shape our world. The Thoughtful Tangle is an initiative to share this journey and experience with friends who love to do the same. He selects one idea and dives deep into it to understand its basics, relevance, impact, and opportunities around it.
Let's start simple. An emotion is a strong feeling you get based on what's happening around you. It could be happiness when you meet a friend, fear when you hear a loud noise, or excitement before a vacation.
Decision-making, on the other hand, is the thinking process where you compare options and choose one. It's like when you look at a menu and pick what to eat.
The important thing to understand is that these two things don't happen separately. Most of our decisions happen while we're feeling emotions. We're not robots who can turn off our feelings when making choices!
Using Emotions as a Decision Tool
We live in a busy world. Often, we don't have time to make lists of pros and cons or think through every possibility. This is where emotions come in handy.
Think about these situations:
You need to choose between two job offers by tomorrow
You're shopping and have to decide quickly if an item is worth buying
You're in a meeting and need to give your opinion right away
In these moments, we rely on "gut feelings," which are really just emotions guiding our decisions. These feelings aren't random; they come from our past experiences.
For example, successful investors often talk about "feeling" when a deal is right. What they're doing is using emotional signals they've learned from previous investments. With time, they learn which emotional cues lead to good decisions.
Two Kinds of Emotions That Drive Decisions
When making choices, we experience two types of emotions:
Immediate emotions are what you feel right now, in the moment of deciding. Like the excitement you might feel when considering buying a new phone.
Anticipated emotions are what you expect to feel in the future based on your choices. Like thinking, "I'll regret spending this money" or "I'll be happy with this new phone for months."
Here's what's interesting: We tend to give more weight to negative anticipated emotions than positive ones. This is called "loss aversion." We're more motivated to avoid future regret than to gain future happiness. That's why many people stick with what they know rather than trying something new - they're trying to avoid potential disappointment.
How Emotions Guide (or Misguide) Our Choices
Sometimes, we don't even realize how much our emotions are influencing our decisions. They work behind the scenes, in our subconscious mind.
Together, immediate and anticipated emotions often make us decide faster. When you feel strongly about something, you don't need to think as much - you just know. But faster doesn't always mean better! Strong emotions can sometimes lead us away from what's truly best for us.
How to Make Better, Faster Decisions Using Emotions
Here are some simple ways to use emotions to your advantage:
Watch out for immediate emotions: When possible, recognize when you're feeling strong emotions in the moment. Ask yourself: "Am I making this choice because I'm currently angry/excited/afraid?" Sometimes it helps to take a short break before deciding.
Learn from your anticipated emotions: Start noticing what you expect to feel after different choices. Then follow up - did those feelings come true? Over time, you'll get better at predicting which choices will make you happy.
Build your personal emotional compass: As you learn which emotional signals lead to good decisions for you, you'll develop better intuition. This can help you make faster decisions that you won't regret later.
Finding Balance Between Heart and Head
Emotions can be incredibly helpful tools for making quick decisions. They process information faster than our conscious thinking can. But they shouldn't replace careful thought completely.
The key is to be aware of your emotions, not controlled by them. Use your feelings as one input among many, especially when:
You need to decide quickly
You've had similar experiences before
The decision isn't extremely important or costly
For bigger decisions, let emotions guide you, but also take time to think things through when possible.
Using Emotions Wisely Leads to Better Choices
The path to making better, faster decisions isn't about ignoring your emotions - it's about understanding them. By paying attention to how you feel before, during, and after decisions, you can turn your emotions into valuable tools.
Start today by simply noticing the role emotions play in your choices. Which feelings lead you to good decisions? Which ones tend to lead you astray? With practice, you can develop emotional awareness that helps you navigate life's many decisions more efficiently and happily.
Remember: Emotions aren't the enemy of good decisions. When understood and used wisely, they can be your greatest ally in making choices that truly serve you well.
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