New decision making research from Six Seconds’ State of the Heart report identifies the emotional intelligence skills and strategies that predict good decision making, all over the world. So what are they, and how can you cultivate them?

From tempering your brain’s extreme impulses to cultivating one specific skill that is strongly predictive of good decision making, here’s a synopsis of Six Seconds’ State of the Heart report and its findings on decision making and EQ.

Since it’s estimated that we make 35,000 decisions a day – and they all add up to determine our effectiveness and quality of life – it seems reasonable to understand the science behind this process and what separates the truly great decision makers from the rest of the pack.

A special thanks to Madison, our statistics intern at Six Seconds who crunched the data on decision making, and Tommaso, who manages the publication of the State of the Heart report.

Six Seconds is a nonprofit dedicated to teaching the skills of emotional intelligence to create positive change in individuals and communities around the world. To learn more, visit https://www.6seconds.org/about/.

So what have we learned from this decision making research, and how can we apply it today to make better decisions?

Everyone’s brain works differently.

Brains, of course, are incredible machines. They filter, process, and react to a flood of information coming from your eyes, ears, and other sensory organs. They produce our thoughts and feelings and actions, in addition to controlling every blink, breath, heartbeat, and muscle movement. And they are not only filtering and reacting. Brains constantly create meaning and make predictions, matching up our perceptions of the world with what we know – or at least think we know – from past experience.

And the fascinating part is that everyone’s brain goes through this process differently. When they walk in a room, some people tend to notice the emotions expressed on people’s faces; others tend to notice more cognitive data like how many tables are set up. When it comes time to make a decision, some people make decisions pretty quickly; others ruminate and try to see it from every possible angle. And some people feel drawn to scheme and dream about the future, while others want to get things done now. And, of course, we all do things that match all of these at different times. But everyone’s brain has a preference for noticing certain things or acting a certain way, which leads them to make certain decisions.

Everyone’s brain has a preference for focus, decision making and drive. Where do you fall on the scale?

So where do the people who score highest in decision making end up on the Brain Style scale? Where’s the sweet spot?

Smack dab in the middle! It’s almost all about balance. People who are the most balanced on the brain scale (or in the middle) on average have a 14% higher decision score than those who are the least balanced (or on the edge).

In the Six Seconds Model of EQ, there are 8 competencies, or skills, of emotional intelligence. Let’s take a quick quiz. Which one of these skills do you think is most predictive of good decision making?

Enhance Emotional Literacy – Accurately identifying and interpreting feelings. 

Recognize Patterns – Acknowledging frequently recurring reactions and behaviors.

Apply Consequential Thinking – Evaluating the costs and benefits of your choices

Navigate Emotions – Assessing, harnessing, and transforming emotions as a strategic resource.

Engage Intrinsic Motivation – Gaining energy from personal values & commitments vs. being driven by external forces.

Exercise Optimism – Taking a proactive perspective of hope and possibility.

Increase Empathy – Recognizing and appropriately responding to others’ emotions.

Pursue Noble Goals – Connecting your daily choices with your overarching sense of purpose.

Have your answer in mind?

When I played this game, I guessed Apply Consequential Thinking, weighing the pros and cons of your decisions. Makes sense, right? My second guess was Navigate Emotions, to make sure you understand how your emotional state may be influencing your decisions, because there’s a lot of research that says that we are often unconsciously biased by our emotional state.

And they are both wrong.

The answer is exercising optimism, which predicts a whopping 66% of the variation in decision making scores.

Trying to see options we haven’t seen yet is an invaluable part of decision making.

The decision making research seems to indicate that where we go wrong in the decision making process is not the evaluate part, which is what we normally give the most attention. It’s the part before that. The part where we work to see what all of our options really are – and then evaluate them.

To find out the 2nd and 3rd EQ skills that are most predictive of good decision making – and personal examples of how to cultivate them – read Decision Making: 3 Practitioners’ Stories of Leveraging EQ Skills to Make Better Decisions.

While exercising optimism does have a unique importance, the data point that most strongly predicts good decision making is simply having a high overall emotional intelligence score – a combination of all the competencies that make up your EQ.

Let’s look at each skill through the lens of my friend Johanna’s decision to move recently; a real life example that brings this decision making research to life.

Johanna had a decision to make. In her early 30s and living in California, she felt stuck. The town where she lived had served her well for almost a decade, but she constantly questioned her long-term future there: it’s one of the most expensive places to live in the United States. If she couldn’t live there forever, why not start the process of starting over sooner rather than later? She’d been considering a move up to Montana for years, an area she liked but where she didn’t really know anyone. Needless to say, she felt a lot of conflicting emotions about the pending decision, and to make the correct call, she had to consciously practice emotional intelligence. And the decision making research makes one point crystal clear: high emotional intelligence predicts good decision making. Treating emotions as a valuable resource, and blending them with cognitive reasoning, leads to better decisions. Those who score in the high EQ category are 10x as likely to have a high decision score; that is, way more likely to make good decisions.

So how did she use emotional intelligence to make the best decision?

Here’s how practicing EQ looked for Johanna, point by point. As you can see, it’s a process. These are the 8 EQ skills of the Six Seconds Model of EQ, and they all interact dynamically to create the conditions for optimal decision making.

Check out this FREE chart for understanding the purpose + message behind over 40 emotions…

Engaging intrinsic motivation means being energized by personal values and commitments versus external forces, like others’ expectations. This meant that she had to remind herself that the disappointment of her current employers or her friends should not be a driving force behind her decision. Of course they want her to stay! But to make the best decision, the driving force had to come from within: what do I really want and what decision aligns with my values?

Exercising optimism means being able to see multiple options in a given situation. Here’s a classic example for Johanna. As she was in the thick of making this decision, she knew her friends were getting married up in Montana and she felt pressured to move there in time for the wedding. Why make two trips? But when she exercised optimism, she could see that there were more options than moving before the wedding or not at all. She could go for the wedding, come back home, and move weeks later. Just thinking of that option felt liberating. It’s easy to get stuck in boxes we create for ourselves, when really there are more options than we realize.

Increasing empathy is about recognizing and responding appropriately to others’ emotions. Once again, with her friends, she had to practice empathy and let herself feel sad with them. Only by doing that could she both love them and make the decision that was best for her.

Pursuing noble goals means connecting your everyday choices with your bigger purpose. This probably had the biggest influence on her decision. Her noble goal is to Create communities where people can thrive. She felt confident that she had been doing this for years in her town, but she had to ask herself: Which decision will most help me, and consequently, the people around me, to thrive? Not to feel safe, or reduce anxiety, but ultimately, to thrive.

By going through this whole emotionally intelligence process, she arrived at the best decision for her.

Life is emotional, and so are decisions. Keeping emotions out of it is a myth that’s been busted. Emotions are a sort of primary filter for how we perceive and act in the world. Only by embracing them and practicing emotional intelligence can we make truly informed decisions.

3. Invest In Your Emotional Intelligence – Those who score high in EQ are 10x as likely to score high in decision making. That’s why it’s a great predictor of success than IQ or expertise.