Over the past week I had multiple conversations in which people asked me for advice on a decision they faced. They described their issue as either, feeling that they did not have the necessary information to make a decision. Or worrying that the outcomes of their decision were highly uncertain, despite the information they had. Both descriptions present the same problem: What is needed to make a decision?

In the middle of the 20th century, brain surgeons like Walter Freeman and William Scoville, performed Lobotomies. In these procedures, the patients' medial temporal lobes were removed, which included the hippocampus. Intended to cure patients from epilepsy, the surgery instead led to the loss of long term memory.

In hindsight, the decision to undergo this kind of surgery was a massive mistake for the patients. They would never recover and their lives would never be the same again. But when they made this decision, this was the best option at hand. It meant either continuing live with severe epilepsy or taking a chance with this procedure.

No matter how significant a decision is, the most dangerous behaviour in decision making is to stall & defer. All we can do at any point in time, is choosing the best possible way forward given the information available to us. There will always be uncertainty about the future and no matter which way we choose to go, we might fail. But not making a decision means making an implicit decision, which can be even more risky and usually means giving away the steering wheel and losing control.

When struggling with a decision, three things I ask myself:

• What is the default scenario? In other words, what will "not making an explicit decision" result in? If the default scenario is the riskiest or least desired of all options, I want to make a decision quickly.

• Which specific piece of information would really direct my decision in one way or the other? If I can't point out the specific information that would influence my decision making, there is no point in deferring the decision.

• Is there a high probability that information will be available to me in due course? If I don't know how or when I will receive the necessary information, there is again no point in stalling and waiting for better times.

There were and will continue to be situations in which I took the wrong decision. But looking back I can say in most of these cases that I would do the same again given what I knew at that point.

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Please share your comments and inputs (via comment function, twitter, e-mail, etc.). In my short write-ups I address topics that I am particularly interested in because they align with my values and beliefs. As such, they are always a reflection of my ideas, thoughts, and opinions. The only thing I am positive in that regard is that I do not have all the perspectives, all the knowledge, or all the facts - help me be better tomorrow.