20+ Best Articles on Decision Making
The most useful articles and videos on decision making from around the web—beginners to advanced—curated by thought leaders and our community. We focus on timeless pieces and update the list whenever we discover new, must-read articles or videos—make sure to bookmark and revisit this page.
Top 5 Decision Making Articles
At a glance: these are the articles that have been most read, shared, and saved on decision making by Refind users in 2023 so far.
Videos
Watch a video to get a quick overview.
The Paradox of Choice, Barry Schwartz
Built into the DNA of the U.S. and other western societies is the conviction that freedom of choice is good, and more choice is always better than less. But ...
Become a Better Decision Maker in 6 Minutes
A core component of making great decisions is understanding the rationale behind previous decisions. If we don’t understand how we got “here,” we run the ris...
The Paradox of Choice #shorts
🎙 If you liked this, check out my weekly podcast, Deep Dive where I interview entrepreneurs, creators and other inspiring people - https://www.youtube.com/c...
Ruth Chang: How to make hard choices
Here's a talk that could literally change your life. Which career should I pursue? Should I break up -- or get married?! Where should I live? Big decisions like these can be agonizingly difficult. But that's because we think about them the wrong way, says philosopher Ruth Chang. She offers a powerful new framework for shaping who we truly are.
What is ...?
New to #decision making? These articles make an excellent introduction.
What is quantum cognition? Physics theory could predict human behavior.
Some scientists think quantum mechanics can help explain human decision-making.
How to ...?
How to make a difficult decision
It’s tempting but unwise to delay important choices. Grasp the nettle by using both systematic checklists and gut instinct
«decisions are complex, not necessarily because the choice between two options is complex but also, and more importantly, because human beings are complex.»
How to Stop Overthinking and Start Trusting Your Gut
Five strategies to strengthen your sixth sense.
«When you approach a decision intuitively, your brain works in tandem with your gut to quickly assess all your memories, past learnings, personal needs, and preferences and then makes the wisest decision given the context. In this way, intuition is a form of emotional and experiential data that leaders need to value.»
How to Pick a Career (That Actually Fits You)
Our career path is how we spend our time, how we support our lifestyles, how we make our impact, and even sometimes how we define our identity. Let’s make sure we’re on the right track.
«a person’s career quadruples as the person’s primary identity. Which is kind of a big thing.»
How to use Design Thinking & Liberating Structures for High Stakes Decision Making
Because brainstorming & group thinking is notoriously ineffective
How to Get Better at Embracing Unknowns
Interpreting uncertainty through data visualizations
Short Articles
Short on time? Check out these useful short articles on decision making—all under 10 minutes.
5 Useful Heuristics for Quick Decision-Making in Daily Situations
A reflection on five useful decision-making heuristics, mental shortcuts designed to solve problems fast and make thinking more efficient.
«Don’t rely on heuristic decision-making without reflecting on who benefits from you not taking a closer look at all the available information»
The Art of Effortless Decision Making
By Leo Babauta So many of us spend a ton of time and energy stuck in indecision — the stress and delays that come with this are quite incredible. One of the things I’m proud of about myself is my…
«“More is lost by indecision than wrong decision. Indecision is the thief of opportunity. It will steal you blind.” — Cicero»
Decision Fatigue Is Real — And It Might Be Why You’re Feeling Overwhelmed
After a long day of having to make high-pressured decisions about so many different things, I had absolutely nothing left in me to make any more choices. And this isn't the first time this sort of…
«do not try to aim for perfection when making decisions»
The default effect: why we renounce our ability to choose
Why is it that we like having choices, but we don’t like choosing? Being able to decide between several options makes us feel in control. Yet, we tend to exhibit a preference for the default option…
«Metacognition is “thinking about thinking”, it’s an awareness of your own thoughts, an examination of the underlying patterns that guide your decision»
Getting (more) comfortable making hard decisions
When I was first promoted to VP, my manager gave me their standard tongue-in-cheek promotion speech: “Congratulations! Also, my condolences. You’ll be held to an even higher standard, and even more…
Long Articles
These are some of the most-read long-form articles on decision making.
12 Life Lessons From Mathematician and Philosopher Gian-Carlo Rota
The mathematician and philosopher Gian-Carlo Rota spent much of his career at MIT, where students adored him for his engaging, passionate lectures. In 1996, Rota gave a talk entitled “Ten Lessons I…
«Reciprocity is remarkably persuasive. Sometimes, how people respond to your work has as much to do with how you respond to theirs as it does with the work itself»
50 Cognitive Biases in the Modern World
Our rapidly evolving world forces us to adopt distinct patterns of behavior, and in the process, paves the way for new cognitive biases to emerge.
«THE GOOGLE EFFECT Also known as “digital amnesia”, the aptly named Google Effect describes our tendency to forget information that can be easily accessed online.»
OODA LOOP: What You Can Learn from Fighter Pilots About Making Fast and Accurate Decisions
Learn the 4-step process fighter pilots use to make split-second decisions when the stakes are at their highest.
«Orienting is all about connecting with reality, not with a false version of events filtered through the lens of cognitive biases and shortcuts.»
The Psychology of Human Misjudgment, by Charlie Munger
The Psychology of Human Misjudgment, a speech given in 1995 by legendary investor Charlie Munger, opened my eyes to how behavioral psychology can be applied to business and problem-solving. Munger,…
The OODA Loop: How Fighter Pilots Make Fast and Accurate Decisions
The OODA Loop is a four-step process for making effective decisions in high-stakes situations. It involves collecting relevant information, recognizing potential biases, deciding, and acting, then…
«OODA” stands for “Observe, Orient, Decide, and Act.»
Publications
We monitor hundreds of publications, blogs, newsletters, and news sources in Decision Making, including:
Ness Labs
The learning community for ambitious knowledge workers. Join us to think better, learn faster, and work happier: http://nesslabs.com/membership 🧠✨
Harvard Business Review
The best ideas in business and management to help people, organizations, and economies work better.
Visual Capitalist
Data-driven visual content focused on global trends, investing, technology, and the economy.
Aeon+Psyche
Aeon is a magazine of ideas and culture. Psyche is our sister magazine focused on the human condition. Visit http://aeon.co and http://psyche.co for more.
Leo Babauta
Creator of Zen Habits. Training in uncertainty. Zen student, vegan, dad, husband.
What is Refind?
Every day Refind picks the most relevant links from around the web for you. Picking only a handful of links means focusing on what’s relevant and useful. We favor timeless pieces—links with long shelf-lives, articles that are still relevant one month, one year, or even ten years from now. These lists of the best resources on any topic are the result of years of careful curation.
How does Refind curate?
It’s a mix of human and algorithmic curation, following a number of steps:
- We monitor 10k+ sources and 1k+ thought leaders on hundreds of topics—publications, blogs, news sites, newsletters, Substack, Medium, Twitter, etc.
- In addition, our users save links from around the web using our Save buttons and our extensions.
- Our algorithm processes 100k+ new links every day and uses external signals to find the most relevant ones, focusing on timeless pieces.
- Our community of active users gets the most relevant links every day, tailored to their interests. They provide feedback via implicit and explicit signals: open, read, listen, share, mark as read, read later, «More/less like this», etc.
- Our algorithm uses these internal signals to refine the selection.
- In addition, we have expert curators who manually curate niche topics.
The result: lists of the best and most useful articles on hundreds of topics.
How does Refind detect «timeless» pieces?
We focus on pieces with long shelf-lives—not news. We determine «timelessness» via a number of metrics, for example, the consumption pattern of links over time.
How many sources does Refind monitor?
We monitor 10k+ content sources on hundreds of topics—publications, blogs, news sites, newsletters, Substack, Medium, Twitter, etc.
Which sources does Refind monitor on decision making?
We monitor hundreds of sources on decision making, including Ness Labs, Harvard Business Review, Visual Capitalist, Aeon+Psyche, Leo Babauta, and many more.
Can I submit a link?
Indirectly, by using Refind and saving links from outside (e.g., via our extensions).
How can I report a problem?
When you’re logged-in, you can flag any link via the «More» (...) menu. You can also report problems via email to hello@refind.com
Who uses Refind?
200k+ smart people start their day with Refind. To learn something new. To get inspired. To move forward. Our apps have a 4.9/5 rating.
Is Refind free?
Yes, it’s free!
How can I sign up?
Head over to our homepage and sign up by email or with your Twitter or Google account.