At the start of your career, you are still learning how to navigate the working world and make decisions for yourself. So many people trip up when it comes to making decisions early in their careers, but there are many common reasons for this.
By learning the most common decision-making errors you might make at the start of your career, you can protect yourself and make the best decisions possible to help keep you moving forward.
Thinking Fast and Slow
by Daniel Kahneman
⏱ 12 minutes reading time
🎧 Audio version available
Rushing Decisions
While the start of your career can certainly be an exciting time, there’s no reason to hurry when it comes to making decisions. For example, if you are offered a job that you are unsure about, but are still waiting to hear back on another application, it may be best to wait a little longer to make the final decision.
It’s great to be excited about the opportunities coming your way, but it’s important to take time to really consider if this is the best option for you. Speak to a trusted friend or colleague before making a decision to get their feedback on the situation.
Taking Too Long to Make Decisions
On the other hand, you don’t want to take too long to make decisions either. This can put you behind your colleagues and other people entering your industry and be one of the reasons that you fall behind early on in your career.
After spending a couple of days thinking about a decision, unless it’s a life-changing moment, you’ll want to act on what you think and feel at that time. Very few decisions in life are non-reversible, so keep this in mind when making decisions and know that there’s almost always a way to reverse things if need be.
Not Facing Reality
We’d all like everything in our lives to go perfectly and work in our favor, but sometimes, we have to face up to the reality and understand that not everything goes our way. When making a decision where both options have drawbacks, you need to accept that fact to help you to move on.
If you are stuck in a dream world, hoping another option is going to come up, you are likely to be disappointed. Early on in your career, you may have more limited choices, so work with what’s available to you at the time, and make the best of your current situation.
Refusing to Make a Decision
If you are someone that likes to go with the flow, this attitude comes back to bite you at some point. While it’s good to have a relaxed nature in some circumstances, when you are too laid-back about your career and life decisions, you’ll find that you won’t make progress in your career.
Failing to make a decision in a timely manner can often have consequences down the line, so start working on your decision-making skills sooner rather than later to avoid huge troubles later on.
Failing to See Other Perspectives
Many of us are stuck in our own narrow-minded way of thinking and fail to see the other side of the story. While this can certainly be difficult to admit, it’s worth acknowledging this earlier rather than later. You’ll find that, by listening to other people’s opinions about your current situation, you’ll make a better informed decision that may take you on a better route than your initial idea would have.
Remember, you don’t always have to follow the advice of other people, but you’ll benefit even from listening to what they have to say and taking some of their ideas on board, if they are appropriate to your situation.
Not Thinking About the Consequences
When making a decision, it’s important to consider the consequences. We are often so focused on the decision-making process that we neglect to think about the future and what the result of this decision will be.
Always think a few months or years ahead when making a major decision at the start of your career. A small decision you make today could line you up for your dream job in the future, or it could take you down an entirely different path you never even considered possible.
Not Following Through With the Decision
Once you’ve made a decision, it’s important that you continue to follow through with it. There’s no point spending so much time and energy on making a decision if you aren’t committed to acting upon it. You’ll find that, once you’ve made a decision, you’ll feel a huge sense of relief, but you need to keep working towards the goals you’ve set in order to make the most of the opportunities presented to you.
We stress so much about choosing our career path early on that we don’t even bother to follow through with the hard work that’s needed to succeed. Success doesn’t come overnight, so keep this in mind once you’ve made a challenging decision.
These are some of the most common reasons that individuals make huge decision-making errors at the start of their careers. Making a decision of any size can be a challenge at any stage in your career, but it’s a skill you can improve with time.
By forcing yourself not to dwell on decisions for too long, and learning that almost any decision is reversible, you’ll learn you don’t need to lose sleep over the choices you’ve made in life. Following through with your decisions is one of the most critical parts of the process, and it will secure your future in every aspect of your life.
By trying to avoid these top errors listed above, we hope you can start to make the best decisions for you and your career in the future.
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