Where will this decision take us?
Big decisions are often thrust upon us. Urgency often demands decisiveness. And thus, we underthink the choice before us. To make better decisions, we need to ask better questions – questions that inspire critical thinking. That’s the purpose of asking: Where will this decision take us?
Decisions present themselves in terms of the outcome. If we do x – we get y. As a result, we limit our critical thinking. We don’t think beyond the expected outcome – and this is a failure point in our decision-making process.
Where will this decision take us?
It’s a question that forces us to think about the outcome, to think about the consequences of our decision, to think about the effects of our choice. Critical thinking leads us to challenge our assumptions about the outcome. Questions like this nudge us towards the objective thinking we need when making big decisions.
Where will this decision take us?
Not asking this question means not thinking about the future. As a naïve student, not once did I stop to consider the downside of skipping lessons. I was more occupied with walking to my friend’s house and waking him up so we could go to the beach.
That summer, I spent my days on the beach - jumping waves in the morning and chilling under the sun in the afternoon. It was far more appealing than sitting in a hot classroom. I wasn’t thinking objectively. No, I wasn’t applying any critical thinking to the situation of not going to college.
I didn’t think about where this decision would take me.
If I had, well then, I would have thought of the impact of getting a low grade. I would have considered there was a risk of expulsion. Furthermore, I might have considered the career I wanted was slipping away from me. The more time I spent at the beach the more I was changing my future.
The long-term impact of that summer was significant. I left college in the autumn – I was so far behind I couldn’t catch up with the others. The career I had wanted was gone – no qualifications meant no job prospects.
Understand the consequences.
If you’re faced with making a big decision – think about where your decision will take you. You need to understand the consequences. Of course, you can’t predicate the future with any certainty – but you can prepare for it.
You can ask critical thinking questions which force you to be objective. Force yourself to understand the implications ahead of the actions your decisions demand of you.
Where will this decision take us?
It is a simple straightforward question which challenges you to think of the future. To think about the effect of the decision. It’s not letting you dwell on the tease of the outcome, but on the second-order effects which follow every choice.
A big decision deserves time – it deserves you objectively assessing the impact of that decision. Which is why you need to ask where will this decision take us?
Critical Thinking
This question is another critical thinking question. It is part of the guide to using critical thinking questions to improve your decisions.