Making wise decisions based on facts. Depending on your personality, making a decision based on facts may not be your first go-to. There is always a clash between facts and making decisions based on gut feel.

If you are struggling to make wise decisions based on facts, try to make it a habit for the next 14 days, to always ask fact-driven questions, look at some numbers, weigh the tangibles (what’s in front of you) and look at the actuality of the situation to base your decision upon; build muscles in that “department”.

3 guidelines to discover facts and to unleash a fact-driven decision-making process.

1. Root Cause. Dig deeper, find the context and the truth.

Viewing situations at face-value can be dangerous. What’s on the surface is usually the manifestation of something deeper. To make a wise decision, always go deeper and find the facts that entangle the situation underneath. Be different in your questions, mix it up to surface the truth. Making a decision based on the root cause can fully solve the situation for a longer period of time and address a larger variety of possible problems in the future.

2. Numbers. Use data to clear the fog.

Numbers don’t lie. Data and statistics can be scary for some. Our brains do not all function based on numbers alone. But to have a clear visualisation of numbers, it can tell a story far greater than any words could. Being data-driven doesn’t require you to be an expert in statistics or to be a data scientist. It just takes a tad bit of logic and good ol’ math. Search for data online, look at your balance sheet, review your online stats, pull together some numbers and place it on Google Sheet. Let the numbers do the talking.

3. Angles. Step back and view it from different vantage points.

Have empathy. Step into the shoes of the other person, everyone will have their own points. To make wise decisions, you will need to cover as much grounds as possible, move swiftly and have a 360 view of the situation. Be slow to speak, assess the root cause and tie loose ends. We often love to solve the micro when we have every opportunity to step back and view it from a macro level. Different angles will give you a better grip of the situation and stronger leverage to make a wise decision.

“Facts are to the mind what food is to the body.” – Edmund Burke