• Home
  • Communication Skills
  • Resolving Conflict
  • Leadership Skills
  • DISC Model

Guy Harris: The Recovering Engineer

Reflect, Respect, Reengineer, and Reinvent

  • Home
  • About This Blog
  • Archives
  • Contact Me

Decision Making 101 – Check Your Emotions Before You Decide

By Guy Harris

In a recent article in the Harvard Business Review, Dan Ariely, the author of Predictably Irrational, writes about the impact of our short-term emotions on our long-term decision making.

In summary, his research found that we tend to make poor decisions when we have recently experienced a negative emotion. That makes some intuitive sense related to the short-term impact on our decision making. Surprisingly, he also found that we tend to repeat those bad decisions when we are faced with them again in a later situation that was not preceded by a negative experience or emotion.

Here's the impact of his findings, if we make a snap or quick decision in the heat of the moment while we are angry, upset, or frustrated, we just might repeat that decision at a later date when we are not under the influence of a negative emotion. So, that one time snap decision can have a lasting impact on our businesses, families, and relationships.

Here's where I see the practical upshot of Ariely's findings, always check your emotions before you make a significant decision. Before writing that performance appraisal, evaluating those budget numbers, confronting poor performance, disciplining your child, or speaking with your spouse; check yourself.

Are you still angry from an earlier conversation with someone else? Are you irritated by the traffic on your drive to work? Did you just learn that you need to invest money you don't have to repair your car?

If so, be careful. You might want to take a few extra minutes to get your emotions in check. Take a walk, read something positive, or just get away from the situation for a moment to carefully consider your emotional state and it's possible impact on your decision making.

The issue is bigger than the one decision in front of you at the moment. The issue is the potential to sow the seed of a pattern of decision making that could have a long-term negative impact on your relationships and performance.

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/soylentgreen23/ / CC BY-SA 2.0

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)

Like this:

Like Loading...

Posts Like This One

Some Other Posts You Might Like

  • What a Diverted United Airlines Flight Can Teach You about Conflict Resolution
  • Face-to-face angerConflict De-escalation Strategies: Control Your Tone and Body Language
  • The Two Sides of Trust
  • Using Apology to De-escalate a Conflict

Filed Under: Decision Making, Leadership Skills, Parenting Tagged With: Dan Ariely, Decision Making, emotional control, emotional intelligence, self awareness, self control

Featured Video

The Recovering Engineer YouTube Channel

Connect With Me

  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Talk Like a Leader Podcast

Important Links

  • Guy Harris
  • My Business
  • Sitemap
  • Contact Me
  • Privacy Policy

Find Your Conflict Style

Copyright © 2025 · Magazine Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

 

Loading Comments...
 

    %d