The Best Decision Makers in the World

Copyright 2006 Andy Warren

There’s a group of people who are at the pinnacle of decision making. They can make a snap decision in less that the blink of an eye. And those decisions can make the difference between absolute success and complete failure.

So who are these people?

They are the sportsmen and sportswomen at the top of their game. In any sport, especially those that require quick reflexes such as football, tennis, baseball or cricket the top players must be able to make important decisions quickly.

When a player is in the zone then everything is working in harmony. Their hand to eye coordination and their mind all work together in an instant to make powerful decisions. And once the decision is made and followed through, it projects that power into the game. The perfect return, the powerful shot, the exquisite pass.

And you’ll have seen the instances when the player hasn’t made a decision. You’ll hear the commentator say “he looked in two minds about that” and in the next second the shot is flunked. You can see it in missed penalties, sliced shots, weak returns and wobbly passes.

How do these people become so good at making their decisions?

They train, they practice and they seek out the best coaching. They keep on making the decisions, under pressure and over and over again. They create their decision making into a habit, even a reflex. They know that their decision making ability will make the difference between winning and losing. They know everyone on their team and everyone who supports them is depending on them to make the right decision. Every time.

How can you do the same?

Like anything in life, the way to emulate someone else’s success is to do what they do. If you want to become an excellent tennis player, you look for a role model and do what they do. If you want to become an excellent decision maker then do what these excellent decision makers do and train, practice and seek out the best coaching. Find ways that you can make more Powerful Decisions so that it becomes habit.

It’s said that “repetition is the mother of skill” and that’s just as true when it comes to decision making as it is to any other skill in life. The more you do it, the stronger it gets.

What Powerful Decision can you make right now? And then another. And then another.