How to make decisions under uncertainty with limited information

How to make decisions under uncertainty with limited information

4 tips on how to make decisions under uncertainty with limited information

In this article, I share with you how to make decisions under uncertainty with limited information.

These decisions can be big or small, but in reality, all decisions are important.

Before I get to the tips, I want to provide some answers to some questions you may be asking yourself right now about your difficulty in making decisions.

Why can’t I make decisions?

There are many reasons why you may not be able to make important decisions in your life. But two reasons are the most common.

The first is a lack of clarity about your values, which leads to a lack of clarity about your priorities, decisions and actions.

The second is a form of fear. For example, some people are afraid of the negative consequences of their decisions.

Other individuals are scared of not being good enough or they give too much importance to the opinion of others.

The guidance offered by a self confidence coach can help you identify your blocks and get back in control of your personal and professional life.

I suggest you follow these four steps to make the right choices.

Here is my first piece of advice.

1 – Be aware that you are already making them

Every day, you make hundreds of decisions at work and in your personal life.

From the moment you get out of bed to the moment you sleep, you make most of the time automatic decisions to take different actions.

This process is so efficient that you don’t even need to take time to think about the majority of your actions because your automatisms are well developed and rarely require your attention.

But from time to time, you will encounter an unexpected event, a major obstacle, and your automatic behaviors will no longer be effective. You will need to stop and focus to find a solution to a more complex or new situation.

It is in these moments that you remember that you already know how to make decisions.

What you have lost is not your ability to make them, but rather the confidence in your ability to make good decisions. This is the subject of the next tip.

2 – Practice making more decisions

The best way to improve your decision-making skills is to make as many decisions as possible, but also to write down all the decisions you have made so that you can keep a record of them.

When you make a decision, congratulate yourself, especially if it is a decision you have been putting off for a long time and usually a difficult decision for you to make.

If you want to make this process easier, you can associate pleasure with making a decision quickly and pain with inaction.

I am not asking you to imagine pain or pleasure. What matters is to actually feel these two motivating forces.

Feel the pain of doing nothing and the consequences of not acting.

Visualize yourself smiling after making that decision you’ve been putting off.

The key is :

  • to make more decisions
  • to learn from your mistakes
  • to make better decisions in a reasonable time

Doing this will help you develop confidence in your ability to make good decisions.

If in spite of this advice, you are stuck in your decision-making process, you will need to understand what is preventing you from making a decision.

This is the subject of the next tip.

3 – Identify what prevents you from making a decision

Now, I suggest that you think about the possible factors that can prevent you from making a decision.

Fear is one of these factors. For example, you may be afraid of the negative consequences of your decision on yourself and/or on other people.

If you are stuck, it is because you have unconsciously associated a strong pain with the idea of making this decision.

But you have also minimized the negative effects of doing nothing.

To get out of this situation you have to do the opposite.

This involves understanding that you are exaggerating the negative consequences out of fear and at the same time you are not taking enough time to consider the possible negative consequences of not taking action.

A limiting belief can also slow down your decision-making process.

If, for example, you believe that to make a good decision on an important issue you need a few months to think about it, you may lose many opportunities in your personal and professional life.

By identifying the foundations of this belief and questioning them, you will be able to create new and more useful convictions.

Perfectionism is another enemy of decision-making.

If you are never satisfied with the information you have and feel you are never ready to make a decision, you need to learn to accept imperfection in order to make a decision in a more reasonable time.

Fear of other people’s judgment can also prevent you from making a good decision.

If you give more importance to the opinion of others than to your own opinion, you will live a limited and unfulfilling life.

Working with a life transition coach will help you build self-esteem and confidence.

As a result, you will be able to more confidently and successfully assert your interests and fulfill your needs.

There are other reasons why you may have difficulty making a decision, but the ones I have just mentioned are often the most common.

Now, I suggest you move on to the next tip, which is to assess the impact of your choice.

4 – Evaluate in advance the potential impact of your choice in the short, medium, and long term

This last step is the most important to make good decisions.

It consists in evaluating as objectively as possible the most probable consequences of your choice in the immediate future, after a few months and after a few years.

This assessment of the potential impact of your choices is extremely useful when you need to make very important decisions about your future and the future of the people who depend on you.

Imagine that your choice is to decide whether or not to quit your job to become an entrepreneur and work for yourself.

What is the immediate impact of this choice?

What will be the effect of this choice in 3 months?

What will be the effect of this choice in 3 years?

Be prepared to answer these questions in an objective way and reread your answers.

Then, think of something that could make this situation even more difficult

Now, think in advance about a solution to this major problem.

After finding this solution, visualize the ideal situation you would like to achieve in the next 3 months and after 3 years.

Now that you have a vision of your future, you know the probable consequences of your actions and you also are aware of other problems that could occur, you now have enough information to make a good decision.

Conclusion on how to make better decisions


In this article, I have provided you with 4 tips on how to make personal and business decisions

If you want to take advantage of the expertise of a life transition coach from our coaching firm, write to us now using our contact form, call us at +33 6 69 46 03 79 or contact us on WhatsApp at +33 6 69 46 03 79.

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This article is also available in other languages

Français : Comment prendre des décisions de meilleure qualité plus rapidement

Italiano: Come prendere una decisione importante quando si è indecisi

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