The importance of self-trust in decision-making
One of the qualities the greatest leaders have is a deep trust in their “future selves”. Leaders are constantly given challenges to work through and problems to solve. These challenges can come with quite a bit of stress. Frequently, there are no paths to follow to get to the solution. It is new every time. How then, does a person cope with knowing that they will be faced with and responsible for uncountable, currently unknown, and novel problems in a role?
Decision anxiety frequently manifests in two ways: snap decision making and delayed decision making. Snap decision making can be a way to move the fear of making a decision that is “bad” off the table as quickly as possible. It can also be a sign of someone who does not trust that their “tomorrow” or “next week” self will make as good of a decision as their “right now” self. These leaders may not consider all options and are prone to missing out on good information.
Delayed decision making (sometimes framed as “wanting all possible information”) is another side of the same coin. Often, these leaders do not feel confident in their ability to choose correctly at all, may feel stuck or frozen, and put off making a decision in the hopes that it will make itself. They may not evaluate any options, or they may spend inordinate amounts of time educating themselves on every possible angle of their choice.
As with many things, the sweet spot of decision making is somewhere in the middle. Those prone to snap decision-making benefit from allowing a “pause” – developing the trust that with more space and time, an answer will be clear, and it will be a far better answer than the one that is hurriedly fired off. Those prone to “analysis paralysis” may benefit from setting themselves a clear deadline – starting small and building the habit of sticking with it.
The leaders Cressana works to grow are those who develops a great sense of trust in their future selves. This often involves a conscious refocusing on the problems that need to be solved today, reflection on problems they used to be worried about but solved with aplomb in the end, and a practice of consistently showing up for themselves whether things go "well" or not.
For example, our clients have used decisions around changing careers to build trust in this way. Client M recounts their experience below:
“I remind myself almost daily that I don't need to solve "what am I going to do with my career next?", only "what am I going to do today?". I think about how terrified I was when I decided to take a step back from my old role, contrasted with the crucial necessity I now see in doing that. I think about how, although some days I don't do as good of a job as others, I am building a habit of forgiving myself and letting that go, and how that will serve me no matter what I do next.”
In the words of Robert Greenleaf, we recommend that leaders, "not to try to think their implications all the way through but rather to find a place to start in the right direction and then learn as one's experience unfolds how to take the next steps."
How are you building trust with your future self to solve the problems that will come? If you’re not sure where to start, contact us for a free consultation.