Decision making is never simple. Often, we don’t know when we have dropped the ball until it is too late. Like talent scout Dick Rowe who turned down the Beatles in 1962, telling them he didn’t like their sound and that four-piece groups with guitars were dead. Or movie mogul Harry Warner, who in 1927 didn’t believe anyone would want to hear actors speak in a film.

For many of us, the go-to way to plot a new course is through a pro and con list. But that old-school way of thinking is bound to get us in trouble, warns Chip and Dan Heath in their new book Decisive: How to Make Better Choices in Life and Work.

According to the Heaths, there are a handful of traps that we fall into when making a decision. Sometimes we narrow our options and skip better choices, other times we let our emotions get in the way. Overconfidence about the end result can also be a killer. We gather only favorable information and ignore the stuff we don’t like, without even realizing what we’re doing. All of these errors come down to something innate within us – personal bias.

“Research in psychology over the last 40 years has identified a set of biases in our thinking that doom the pros-and-cons model of decision making,” they write. “If we aspire to make better choices, then we must learn how these biases work and how to fight them.”

So what’s the most effective way to tackle decision making without that traditional two-columned list? The solution, say the Heaths, is a four-pronged approach they’ve dubbed the WRAP Process.

– Widen your options

– Reality-test your assumptions

– Attain some emotional distance

– Prepare to be wrong

As pointed out by psychologist Roy Baumeister, we spend 95 percent of our time driving on a straight course, but when it comes down to it, it’s the turns we take that determine our destination. So let’s take a look at how the Heaths WRAP Process can guide us through our decision-making journey.

Widen Your Options

It is important to intentionally expand the set of choices you are considering. It is frightening how singularly focused many businesses are – an Ohio State University study found less than one-third of corporations considered more than one alternative. Spend time thinking of other options and encourage team members to do the same.

Don’t be afraid to consider several options simultaneously, and follow multiple paths all at once. Finding a mentor who has already solved similar problems can also be of great benefit. The Internet is a valuable tool – chances are someone else has already solved your dilemma. Adopt analogies you can adapt to your situation.

Reality-Test Your Assumptions

Fight your bias by taking a trip to the other side. Assume the opposite is true, consider the facts, and embrace constructive disagreement. Don’t shy away from the uncomfortable questions, and remember the more open-ended the query, the better. Taking the traditional top-down, big-picture approach is a good first step, but only if it is followed up by a bottom-up perspective that examines the fine details.

Before we plunge into a pool we usually dip our toe to test the waters. This also applies to decision making. Finding a way to run a practical small-scale test of your theories before taking a leap of faith can prevent serious mistakes from happening.

One great example is Bill Gross of idealab!, who was hot on the idea of selling cars online. He hired one CEO to sell one car online to see how it went. Within 24-hours, three cars sold and Gross went on to found CarsDirect.com, the largest auto dealer in the United States.

Attain Some Emotional Distance

Ask yourself a few questions. What would your successors do, or what would your best friend do in your situation? How will you feel about this 10 minutes from now? Ten months from now? Ten years from now? This line of questioning will force some emotional distance in your decision. Take a few minutes to reconnect with your values, goals and aspirations, and make sure you are enshrining them in your actions.

Prepare to be Wrong

No one likes to be wrong but the concept can grow on you. Humbly preparing yourself for the times that you make a bad call may prevent you from making one in the first place. By considering what your worst-case scenario would look like, along with the best-case-scenario, you will prepare yourself for both adversity and success. You won’t get carried away by your enthusiasm, therefore increasing the odds of making a good decision.

Setting a tripwire to alert you that change is needed or a better decision could be made is a good move. These can be based on deadlines, resources, or market share, to name just a few. The Heaths use David Lee Roth of Van Halen as an example. For years, he had a peculiar stipulation on his tour rider that many brushed off as a rockstar demand. He requested a bowl of M&Ms, with the brown candies removed, be provided backstage at each venue.

This was actually a test – his tripwire – to see if stagehands were reading the contract thoroughly. If he walked in to find brown M&Ms, he knew there was little attention to detail and there would be errors in more important aspects of the show.

Tripwires alert us to issues, but also give us trust in the process, something that is the final piece of the decision-making puzzle. Trust gives us confidence to take bigger risks and reap bigger rewards.

“Our decisions can never be perfect, but they can be better. Bolder. Wiser,” write the Heaths. “The right processes can steer us toward the right choice. And the right choice, at the right moment, can make all the difference.”