How do you make decisions? A 3-minute self-reflection

About 3 minutes · 12 statements · Your answers stay on this page

Two people can face the same choice, a job, an apartment, what to do this weekend, and go about it in completely different ways. One looks at three options, picks the one that fits and gets on with life. Another keeps looking for the one that's truly best, and still wonders afterwards. One trusts a gut feeling; another writes a list and sleeps on it. Each way has real benefits and real costs. Researchers who study decision-making describe two threads running through this: how much you hold out for the best option rather than a good enough one, and how much you lean on gut feeling versus careful thinking. Here you rate twelve everyday statements, which takes about three minutes, and we show you where your answers seem to sit on those two lines. With the result you'll find what it can look like, what we see as useful in it, where it can cost you, one small practice, and some questions to sit with. Your answers never leave this page.

This is a reflection, not a diagnosis. A decision style is a habit of approach, and habits can shift. If worry about getting choices wrong is taking over your days or keeping you from deciding at all, a counsellor or therapist can help in ways a reflection cannot.

About the idea

The economist and psychologist Herbert Simon coined the word satisficing for choosing the first option that meets your needs, as opposed to searching for the single best one. Later, the psychologist Barry Schwartz and colleagues called people who tend to hold out for the best maximizers and those who tend to settle on good enough satisficers, and reported that maximizers tended to be less satisfied with some of their choices and more prone to regret. A follow-up study of students through their final year and job search found that those with strong maximizing tendencies took jobs with about 20% higher starting salaries in that sample, yet were less satisfied with the jobs they took.

The second thread, gut versus careful thinking, comes from work on decision styles. Researchers have described several habitual ways people approach decisions, including a rational, step-by-step style and an intuitive one that relies on feelings and hunches. Most people use more than one, and the style that fits depends on the decision.

This is a contested area. Some researchers have questioned whether the original maximizing scale blends high standards, which can be a strength, with regret and worry, which are the costly part. The research we cite does not show that holding out for the best is bad for everyone. We offer the two lines in this reflection as loose ways of noticing how you tend to decide, not fixed traits, and we don't see either end as a better way to be.

What this reflection looks at

• Holding out for the best — Higher means you keep searching for the best option, compare a lot and often wonder afterwards whether another choice would have been better.
• Gut or careful thinking — Higher means you like to analyse, gather input and take your time on important choices; lower means you tend to trust your instinct and decide quickly.

Questions people ask

Sources

1. Schwartz, B., Ward, A., Monterosso, J., Lyubomirsky, S., White, K. & Lehman, D. R. (2002). Maximizing versus satisficing: Happiness is a matter of choice. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83(5), 1178–1197. doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.83.5.1178
   Supports: The maximizer and satisficer distinction, and the finding that maximizers reported more regret and less satisfaction.
2. Iyengar, S. S., Wells, R. E. & Schwartz, B. (2006). Doing better but feeling worse: Looking for the 'best' job undermines satisfaction. Psychological Science, 17(2), 143–150. doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2006.01677.x
   Supports: Students with strong maximizing tendencies secured jobs with about 20% higher starting salaries in that sample, but were less satisfied with those jobs and reported more negative feeling during the search.
3. Scott, S. G. & Bruce, R. A. (1995). Decision-making style: The development and assessment of a new measure. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 55(5), 818–831. doi.org/10.1177/0013164495055005017
   Supports: People have habitual decision styles, including rational and intuitive ones, and most use several.

The statements in this reflection were written for IX Coach; they are not taken from any published questionnaire. Last reviewed 2026-10-03.