Decision Making

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Quote: “96% of organizing is decision-making” from Deborah Kawshima.

Oh, my, goodness…no wonder I have trouble with this! So much to do, so little time – how to decide whether to take on a project? How to decide where to start? Managing time is about organizing activities. Problem solving is decision making and decision making is problem solving. Problems are projects.

“Everything on your desk that’s not moving is a failure to make a decision.” -John White.

Decision Making Simplified

• Define the problem
• Expert advice: ask
• Compile information: research
• Inspire ideas for possible solutions
• Decide and plan
• Execute the plan and evaluate success

Things to consider:

• Every decision involves risk. What’s the worst that could happen?
• Determine the importance of factors that will affect the decision
• Realize you may not be able to obtain all the facts
• Listen to your gut feelings
• Ask others for their opinions
• Take a break to look for fresh perspectives
• Try it out with the option of changing your mind
• Decide to postpone a decision if there’s no time pressure
• Take your time with big decisions
• Learn from mistakes

Tools

• low-tech: dartboard, coin toss
• more involved: select criteria and assign weights based on importance. How to Prioritize by Steve Pavlina, and A Self-Made Billionaire Uses This Easy Trick for Decisions at Time.com
• learn more at Goal Skills – Problem solving, and Decision making and Problem Solving (Skills Employers Want series)

Life With Confidence Quotes: “Every decision you make…is not a decision about what to do. It’s a decision about Who You Are.” -Neale Donald Walsch

About dailyplanit

I seek to create order from the chaos of complex information. Join me at the Daily PlanIt to gain insights, inspiration, and information to increase skills for a better life. I unlock the power of teaching reading with phonics in the pursuit of literacy at www.phonicspow.com. In my spare time I explore books and movies, often choosing titles available on both screen and page.