Decision-Making
Looking for Different and Better Outcomes?
How to re-frame your decision-making schema.
Posted August 13, 2022 Reviewed by Kaja Perina
Key points
- Our results in life are directly correlated to our pattern of choices.
- Focusing on small (micro) choices and habits will produce better results over time.
- Revamping your decision schema, or mental framework, enables a better system for deciding.
How do you gauge success in your life? Are you generally happy with your work life, current health, nutrition, financial wealth, or personal life? Or, do you regret some choices, wish things were different, and want to change and improve? Many of us quickly give feedback to others (such as a Google or restaurant review) but are reluctant to provide feedback about ourselves. Given that we make 100+ decisions daily, there is a considerable opportunity for evaluating and revamping your choices.

Decision Outcomes
My research suggests that while people might claim to be generally happy, they are simultaneously looking for a change in some aspect of their life. These are the results (or, more technically, outcomes or consequences) of our decisions. If we assume that extraneous factors—fate, luck, and divine intervention—won’t influence all decisions, we must control and improve what we can. Generally, to get better results, we have to make better choices. Choices are within our locus of control. We can control how we choose and intend to do something, even if we can't control the actual consequence.
Small Daily Choices
Now keep in mind that for most people, your current situation in life cannot be traced back to only one big decision. For most, our results are an accumulation of our choices over time. I call these 'micro-choices'—small daily decisions that might seem insignificant at the moment but are creating long-term patterns. Think about water flowing through mountains. If the water only flows for a few minutes and then stops, it might not make any progress in shaping the rock. But a few drops daily create a crevasse or a waterfall.
Our habits cause micro choices. These are our typical tendencies to act a certain way or prefer one thing over another. We all have them. These behaviors and preferences can be positive, neutral, or negative. A positive habit might involve waking up at 4 am and meditating, while a more negative practice might involve smoking after a stressful day. Instead of looking for some significant decision to fix your situation, try to focus on addressing these micro-habits and small choices. Creating a pattern of good decisions will change outcomes.
Decision Schema
So how do we do this? Focus on your decision-making schema . This schema is the conceptual framework, mental map, or system we (often subconsciously) deploy to frame, conceive, and execute choices. If you keep choosing the same way, you'll get the same results. So, we need to transform this framework. Your schema helps you categorize and determine what is important to you (what you value), the alternatives open to you, the expected probability of something happening, and your intended results. If you closely examine your decision schema, you might see one of these patterns:
- You tend to react or respond in particular (and often limited) ways,
- Your paradigm for viable alternatives is narrow or fixed,
- You aren't considering the utility or value in advance of the choice, or
- You have a limited vision of the outcome
You can address all of these. Try to look for patterns in how you approach upcoming decisions. Before each choice, think about how you are approaching the problem. Try to look at it objectively, get some outside input, and spend a little time contemplating viable alternatives.
Start Today
Some of us live our whole life looking in the rear-view mirror—wondering why we did certain things and how we got here. But since we can't change much about the past, we can change the present and the future. Start by changing your decision schema.