What are some ways to reduce the impact of emotions on decision-making?

Emotions are not to be reduced, they are part of the beauty of the human experience (ironic to write this to an AI generated article). We can learn to tend & befriend our emotions so that we navigate them better and don’t get flooded or overwhelmed by them. It can be done through tools of awareness, emotional intelligence and mindfulness. How? By kindly paying attention to what is happening in the felt sense of the body. Where are you, for example, feeling upset or anger? In the chest or throat, possibly with a rush of heat. How intense on a scale of 1-10 is it? Offer yourself some soothing selfcare, breathing as you breathe in for a count of 5, hold for 1, then exhale for 7. Learning how to surf them and care for yourself is key.

💫Learn to understand where they come from 💫what are they teaching and telling us about us 💫 express them in a healthy way for you Reminds me the times I have heard: “do not get angry.” And my response: “I wish my emotions will turn off with a click. “ If only it will be that easy…

Emotions are to be considered in any situation, definitely: there are information. Now, the intensity of the emotions - and even its quality, may be related to past experiences rather than the present. Our nervous system is triggered and responds overwhelming thinking and action. Deepening the breathing is always handy, no matter where you are, to give yourself room to be calmer and more grounded, and therefore providing an opportunity to shift the voice in your head, and subsequently your actions. When we give ourselves the choice of changing the chemistry of our brain and nervous system, we can intervene in a given situation more strategically and effectively. This may require a brief pause to maximize the results of the interaction.

I come from the world of Human Design, and decision-making is at the heart of living an aligned and authentic life — in relationships and work. Challenging assumptions and biases starts with deep self-knowledge and self-awareness about where you are most vulnerable to conditioning beliefs and behaviors. Having an undefined Ego (65% of us) and undefined Solar Plexus (~50%), for example, can lead you to make decisions to not advocate for yourself or to please others in order to not "rock the boat." When you learn how to recognize the mechanics of your internal decision-making compass, you're more likely to override conditioned beliefs and behaviors that don't serve you, and make decisions that support you for the long haul.

The reason biases and and emotions play such a significant role, outside the emotional aspects of being involved/affected by a decision, is that our tools allow for those biases to be included. Our deterministic financial models, which most decisions are made from, only permit one input per cell allowing users to chose data that supports the results they want - strategic misrepresentation. But now we have better tools - we have simple Excel add-in software that allow us to better incorporate real-world data into our models as the probability distribution or time-series they actually are. This aspect reduces the impact of bias and emotion as real-world data is less able to be manipulated versus choosing data for the analyses required.

Yes, despite how objectively we try to incorporate data into our decisions, it is important to remember we do not have all the answers. Objective feedback based on experience in the metrics being considered is critical as (i) it ensures we mitigate the "noise" in our data that we may misconstrue as the "signal", (ii) it helps find and fix mistakes we may have made, and (iii) it helps others vested in the outcome feel part of the decision and be motivated in working towards achieving the desired result. The experience of those we ask for feedback is also critical. Identifying the right colleagues to be involved is as important as determining the right data - in fact, it may be more important given how valuable their insights could be.

I always teach my team to "practice humility"! When we release ourselves from the burden of hunting for attention, praise, and recognition, we become self-aware and can take criticism well. Thereby, the majority of negative emotions like envoy, hate, anger, jealousy and sadness that can mask the decision-making will be eliminated. In addition, we become good listeners and can sense the emotional needs of our team or stakeholders. If we manage to gain these skills, it will be possible for us to realize when to trust our intuition in taking decision, and when to rely on statistics and analysis.