Metacognitive Decision Making

Written By Colēgia

Decision-making is something that occurs in many areas. This can range from choices made during school such as what we study, or even down to what we eat. Our decisions matter and today we want to take some time to use metacognition to help with that.

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Using Research to Help

The best way to make a decision is by using research to help with that. When we are learning a new subject, we won't know the logistics of how certain things work within it. That is perfectly fine as there is value in discovering things we don't know about. Thinking about how we make our decisions is good as they can have both long and short-term effects on us. Research allows us to get a more accurate view on a topic which can help us make a more informed decision. One example of this would be what type of college we want to go to. This is important as it has a large impact on our lives and ideally, we want the college to suit our needs as an individual. Challenging how we think by addressing how we use research can shift our mindset into one that helps with our decision-making in an easier way.

“Thinking about how we make our decisions is good as they can have both long and short-term effects on us.”

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Using Personal Experience

Personal experience is another manner of decision-making that can help us. While personal experience is limited to things that we have lived through, there is still merit to how we reacted to things in the past. One way this applies is how we handled stress during a difficult moment. Did we find ourselves being less open to change? Or did we accept the challenge at hand and faced it head-on? These are two different ways that we can use our history to review how we think about future decision-making. Building upon our past through our reactions is necessary as it can show us how much we have grown and how to take into account our new mindset. Being open to new ways of thinking is crucial when it comes to decision making, and planning for the future is just as important as being mindful of the past.

“While personal experience is limited to things that we have lived through, there is still merit to how we reacted to things in the past.”

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Work With Others

While we may have an idea of what is the best possible outcome for something, it doesn't hurt to get a second opinion. Rethinking about how we see others’ advice is one metacognitive way to help our decision-making. Instead of taking advice at face value, we can go one step further and see if said advice would be applicable one week, or even a year from now. It's the idea of whether this perspective has value in the short and long-term that can help us see it in a different way. This is good as it challenges our minds to think outside of the box which is needed for harder decisions. The answer may not always be immediately apparent, but if we are able to evolve our thinking in a manner that is constructive to these choices, then it can ultimately help us.

Colēgia

Colēgia

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