Decision-making is the single greatest skill that dictates our success or failure in life.
Think about where you are right now—your job, your relationships, even the little things like what you had for breakfast. Every single aspect of your life is the result of decisions you’ve made along the way.
But it doesn’t stop with our past. Who you become tomorrow will depend on the decisions you make today. Whether we’re aware of it or not, every decision, big or small, shapes who we are, where we go, and the life we create.
35,000 decisions a day
And here’s a mind-blowing fact: According to research, we make 35,000 decisions every single day. Yes, you read that right. That means, if you sleep a solid seven hours, you’re making around:
- 2,058 decisions every waking hour
- 34.3 decisions a minute
- 0.57 decisions every second
How is that even possible? Well, most of our decisions happen on autopilot—without much thought or effort. More than 95% of the choices we make are subconscious, shaped by habits, routines, and mental shortcuts our brains create to conserve energy. Although these unconscious decisions fly under the radar, they still add up to shape our habits and, ultimately, our lives.
That leaves 1,750 decisions we actually think about. Decisions that ultimately determine our success or failure. To put it simply, decision-making is the cornerstone of our lives. No other skill has a greater impact on our lives than decision-making.
Unhappy with where you are in life? Make better decisions. Want greater wealth, health, and happiness? Make better decisions. Success in life ultimately comes down to the quality, speed, and implementation of our decisions.
A new decision-making perspective
This is where Decision-Makership comes in. After years in the military, in politics, as a serial entrepreneur, and a Senior Global Manager in a top Fortune 200 company, I learned how important decision-making is.
While there are many frameworks and tools out there, I began to develop a fresh perspective on decision-making—one that blends the rigor of the US Army’s time-tested processes with my own visual, adaptive approach and the latest research in cognitive psychology.
I wanted to create a resource that would shorten that steep learning curve—so others wouldn’t have to stumble through the same trial and error that I went through. This will be the first set of articles describing in detail what separates Decision-Makership from other systems and how it can help you make better decisions, faster, easier, and with more positive outcomes.
By combining the rigorous, time-tested U.S. Army decision-making processes with the clarity of visual thinking and the latest in cognitive science, I decided to name my unique decision-making framework DECISION-MAKERSHIP.
The suffix “ship” is derived from Old English which means state, condition, or quality. In modern terms, it refers to the qualities, skills, and characteristics of a certain role or position. There is no word to indicate the quality and condition of being a good decision-maker. Just like how leadership encompasses all the qualities of being a leader, I created the term “Decision-Makership.”
Subsequent posts and the book I am writing:
…is the culmination of that journey, offering you a structured and adaptable easy-to-understand decision-making process for making decisions that can not only give you the edge in your decision-making, but change your life considerably.
In conclusion, I want to welcome you to the journey in learning how to make better decisions in life!