Decision Making^©

How many times have you made a wrong decision? The decision to get married does not count. When you know you made a bad decision, how would your life be different if you had made the right decision? What do you think you can do to reduce the possibility of making the wrong decision?

When you think you have the found the best answer, it removes your anxiety in making the decision. A decision is often deciding the options you have and selecting one of the options. The challenge is selecting the best option when you do not know what is the best option. For husbands, you can ask your wife what she wants you to do. Doing what she says may not give you the right decision, but it does slow her down in complaining about your dumb decision.

The focus typically is on making the best decision. Another approach is focusing on eliminating the poor options. Often it is easier to make a good decision when the poor options have been eliminated. As options are eliminated, the best or two best options will start to emerge. You may have to select from a couple of good options. The results that occur from executing the option will tell you if it is a good option.

Acting on an option will sometimes expose you to situations that you did not consider. Thinking through a decision does not always eliminate poor options even though it often does. Having thought through each option before making the selection, you can quickly realize when the results you want are not what you are getting. By stopping the decision you made when you understand that it is not working, you can minimize the impact of the decision and implement another decision.

A simple situation can impact a good decision. The timing may be wrong for an option. A second best option may be a better choice because of the timing. Sometimes it is best to wait until the timing is better.

Sometimes you will get caught in a situation when you have to make a quick decision. Quick decisions are a mine field for making a poor decision. If you can divide the decision into phases or steps, you can reduce the scope of each decision to be made in a hurry. The smaller the scope of the decision results in reducing the potential of making a poor decision. Executing a smaller range option, will buy you more time to think about the rest of the decision that will be made.

Several years ago I was returning from a vacation when white exhaust started coming from the van’s tailpipe. I knew water was getting into the motor. This normally occurs when a head gasket or the head had cracked. I could not tell which had happened. What was I to do? I purchased several gallons of water that I would use to pour into the radiator. I was able to get home. The next morning I took the van to my mechanic for him to check out the situation.

He confirmed my possible problems, and he would not be able to confirm the exact problem until he tore down the motor. He told me that because the motor was eleven years old, he though it would be best to put the money into a rebuilt engine. I had earlier found that the dealer from which I purchased the van does not work on any vehicle that was more than ten years old.

I was now facing three decisions which are repair the current engine, purchase a rebuilt engine, or purchase another van. The next week was devoted to checking into each of the options to determine what will have to be done and the cost. The decision made was not easy. My wife and I decided to replace the van. Spending money to buy the van created in our bank account a money ouch. We had to make a sizeable down payment that enabled us to be able to get a loan for the van that we could afford the monthly payments. Working through the problem with the van caused financial havoc for us and two weeks of confusion while we worked to figure out what to do. We knew that it would take several months for us to decide if we make a good decision or the best decision.

Making a decision always carries the potential of it being a bad decision. To learn that you did not make a good decision can be a blow to the decision maker’s ego. The handling of making a decision gives you an opportunity to make a better decision based on your experience. Do not allow yourself to not make a decision, because you are afraid it will be poor decision.

You can be sure if you make many decisions, you will make some decisions that you will wish you had made a different decision. The strength of your decision making skills is how quickly you respond to the results of a poor decision so you minimize the impact of the poor decision.

I grew up in a family that made you take responsibility for your decisions. I was not allowed to learn to blame other people for my poor decisions. As an adult, there are times I would like to blame other people for my poor decisions. It does not fit into my basic beliefs.

This could be why I have not gone into politics. I have not been trained to use lies or stretching the truth in making decisions to get votes.

Dale Lee

A former resident of Pot Neck, Tennessee

Date last modified, September 5, 2010

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