How to Make Better Decisions in Everyday Life Using Data

We use data in our everyday lives. Whether we wear a fitness tracker that counts our steps and measures our sleep quality, or when Alexa announces that it might be time to reorder a frequently-purchased item from Amazon or read product reviews before making a purchase decision, these are all common, everyday examples of how we use data in our daily lives.

In the world of business, we use data to learn more about our customers, improve processes, and help employees do their jobs more effectively. But we haven’t even scratched the surface…

Data versus Gut Instinct

Although proper data analysis involves, well, data, and the whole point behind proper data analysis is using data — facts — to make decisions or understand a problem, we still often rely on our gut instinct. The key is finding the right balance of data and gut instinct when making decisions or solving a problem. Asking the following questions can help:

• What kind of results are needed?
• Who will be informed?
• Am I answering the bigger question?
• How quickly does a decision need to be made?

For instance, if you are working on a rush project, you might need to rely on your own knowledge and experience…