A good decision is based on knowledge and not on numbers.

How many people hold a view tells you about its popularity, not its accuracy. Counting is seductive because it is easy and it distributes responsibility, and a decision made by consensus feels defensible even when it is wrong. Knowing something requires effort from you specifically, and it leaves you exposed if it turns out badly. That exposure is the actual reason people prefer the count.

Before your next significant choice, write down what you actually know as distinct from what you have absorbed from everyone around you. If the second list is longer, go and find one piece of first-hand information. It will usually change something.