Do You Want to be a Better Decision-maker? Learn to Kill

There is a direct connection between homicide and learning how to make better decisions. While initially this may seem odd, if you are willing to take a quick journey back in time, I will explain…

The English words homicide, genocide, and suicide all trace back to French and then further back to Latin, with the suffix -cide meaning “to kill” or “to cut”. Homicide is to kill a person, genocide to kill a specific group, and suicide to kill oneself. Think of any number of words with the suffix –cide and you will discover plenty of death.
 
The word “decide” is no different. The prefix de- is derived from Latin, meaning “away from” or “off”. Today in Spanish the word “de” means from, of, or off. So decide literally means to “cut off” or “cut away from”.

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Understanding the etymology of the word “decide” can help transform the way you make decisions.
 
As you determine which path to try, instead of keeping all of your options on the table, focus on which options you should kill or cut away. Like homicide or any other –cide, when you kill something it is dead, you cannot bring it back to life and this has three significant implications for decision-making:

1. Killing options help you clear the table. As options are killed off, it frees up both mental and physical resources, allowing you to better focus on those options that remain.
2. Killing is serious business. Keeping in mind that once an option is killed it is dead means you need to be diligent, giving yourself plenty of time, searching for all of the facts and being thorough before an option is sentenced to death.​
3. Choice is your friendly alternative. While a semantic argument, there is an important distinction between the word “choice” and the word “decide”. Derived from French and Old English, the origins of “choice” are to taste, try or test alternatives. To decide is for issues with high consequences that cannot be undone while choice is better suited for temporary states.