Making decisions is one of those things we can all struggle with at times. The trouble is we often don’t know what we’re looking for—and don’t have much to base the decision on. Here’s a way to make decisions as to which path to follow without getting a headache.
Many of the decisions we make concern choosing which path to follow, or which process is best. What we usually try to do is think things through and then hope we can somehow make a decision by sheer brain power.
The problem with making decisions in this way is that we are making decisions—or trying to make them—without setting parameters for our decision making. What happens is that we see a huge amount of information and making the decision overwhelms us. We can’t think straight enough to make the decision. And the longer we take to make the decision, the more difficult the decision becomes. We end up wasting time in a fog (of indecision!), when time is our most precious resource.
What we need is a structure to our decision making and learn to use our brains without putting in so much mental effort that we become exhausted.
A way to cut the time needed to make decisions over which process works the best is to take longer to make the decision and eventually hardly have to make a decision at all. If that doesn’t sound too screwy, then read on.
When I say “take longer to make them” I mean I stretch the decision making process out over a few days. The trick is to follow a decision-making procedure which allows your subconscious mind to go a long way toward making the decision without you having to do much work.
The first thing to do is get everything down on paper. This is essential for getting things in perspective. So get things down in writing. This will allow you to see the facts about the problem to be solved and make the decision-making process easier.
When putting the things down in writing, put down everything about the process you can. Put them under the following headings:
works very well: here put everything that is giving you the results you want
works reasonably well: under this heading put everything that is giving you some of the results you want, but could be improved
doesn’t work: here put things which are definitely not giving you the results you want
Once you’ve written things down, take a few minutes to review it then put the paper away for a few days. Over the next few days you’ll find yourself thinking about the list, and all the time your subconscious mind will be working on it without you having much to do with it.
When you take it out again, go thorough it and you’ll see there are compelling reasons why some things don’t work. These are the things you need to cut out of the process. Things which don’t work are not worth keeping.
So cut those off your list, and stop doing them as part of the process your trying to improve. Next review the list again and especially take a good look at the things that are working reasonably well. Now put the list away for a few days and go through the same process as before.
When you take out the list again, you’ll see some of the things under the “works reasonably well” heading that can also be cut out of the process. Cross these off the list.
Now merge the “works well” and “works reasonably well” lists and write down why they work. Then put the list away for a few days.
When you come back to the list, you’ll find that the parts of the process that really work well and the parts that don’t are really evident. You’ll have been thinking about the decision without knowing you were thinking about it.
The parts of the process that don’t work well can be discarded. They don’t work, and so there’s no decision to be made and you can stop thinking about them. The parts of the process that do work well are where you should focus your energies.
The next time you’re trying to make a decision about a process, get the pluses and minuses down on paper. This makes things clearer, helps you cut out what doesn’t work, and stops you from wasting time on things that don’t need a decision made about them in the first place.
Many of the decisions we make concern choosing which path to follow, or which process is best. What we usually try to do is think things through and then hope we can somehow make a decision by sheer brain power.
The problem with making decisions in this way is that we are making decisions—or trying to make them—without setting parameters for our decision making. What happens is that we see a huge amount of information and making the decision overwhelms us. We can’t think straight enough to make the decision. And the longer we take to make the decision, the more difficult the decision becomes. We end up wasting time in a fog (of indecision!), when time is our most precious resource.
What we need is a structure to our decision making and learn to use our brains without putting in so much mental effort that we become exhausted.
A way to cut the time needed to make decisions over which process works the best is to take longer to make the decision and eventually hardly have to make a decision at all. If that doesn’t sound too screwy, then read on.
When I say “take longer to make them” I mean I stretch the decision making process out over a few days. The trick is to follow a decision-making procedure which allows your subconscious mind to go a long way toward making the decision without you having to do much work.
The first thing to do is get everything down on paper. This is essential for getting things in perspective. So get things down in writing. This will allow you to see the facts about the problem to be solved and make the decision-making process easier.
When putting the things down in writing, put down everything about the process you can. Put them under the following headings:
works very well: here put everything that is giving you the results you want
works reasonably well: under this heading put everything that is giving you some of the results you want, but could be improved
doesn’t work: here put things which are definitely not giving you the results you want
Once you’ve written things down, take a few minutes to review it then put the paper away for a few days. Over the next few days you’ll find yourself thinking about the list, and all the time your subconscious mind will be working on it without you having much to do with it.
When you take it out again, go thorough it and you’ll see there are compelling reasons why some things don’t work. These are the things you need to cut out of the process. Things which don’t work are not worth keeping.
So cut those off your list, and stop doing them as part of the process your trying to improve. Next review the list again and especially take a good look at the things that are working reasonably well. Now put the list away for a few days and go through the same process as before.
When you take out the list again, you’ll see some of the things under the “works reasonably well” heading that can also be cut out of the process. Cross these off the list.
Now merge the “works well” and “works reasonably well” lists and write down why they work. Then put the list away for a few days.
When you come back to the list, you’ll find that the parts of the process that really work well and the parts that don’t are really evident. You’ll have been thinking about the decision without knowing you were thinking about it.
The parts of the process that don’t work well can be discarded. They don’t work, and so there’s no decision to be made and you can stop thinking about them. The parts of the process that do work well are where you should focus your energies.
The next time you’re trying to make a decision about a process, get the pluses and minuses down on paper. This makes things clearer, helps you cut out what doesn’t work, and stops you from wasting time on things that don’t need a decision made about them in the first place.
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