To constantly move to the next level in career, business and ministry, you must master the art of sound decision making. The average adult makes more than 35,000 decisions in a day- most of them by reflex actions rather than by proper choice. These include whether to get up when the alarm rings, to ignore it, to snooze it, to put it off, to bath with hot water or ordinary one, to use gas or electric stove, to eat breakfast or not, what to eat, to pick the phone when it rings or ignore it, where to go, when to go, how to get there, what to wear, to transfer that money or not, what to read or watch, when to sleep etc. While the vast majority of these decisions may appear trivial, the truth is that every decision we make has an impact on our future. Our present is the sum of all the decisions we have made in the past. Renowned author, John C. Maxwell, puts it this way: “Life is a matter of choices, and every choice you make makes you”.
Here are five time-tested principles to guide us towards better decisions:
1. Process is more important than content
Decision making is more of a process than an incident or event. This process can be developed and applied, irrespective of what the actual decision is about. While we have all been programmed by past experiences to make certain decisions by reflex or through autopilot, this sometimes lands us where we do not desire. In proper decision making, you must begin with the end in mind. In addition to other content, you will find a variety of approaches to the decision-making process in this upcoming book: https://bit.ly/GoFurtherBook
2. Pay attention to habits
The choices that we repeatedly make are those that shape us, not the things that we do once-in-a-while. If you make the same decision twice, there is an increased chance that you will make it again and again. Often, our first-time decisions were taken to solve a particular problem. But we can find ourselves repeating the same decision over and over, even when the problem no longer exists.
3. Remember the Butterfly effect
The butterfly effect, in chaos theory, simply proposes that the flapping of the wings of a butterfly in one location can cause a hurricane in a faraway place. It helps to us conceptualize the huge effects that apparently simple decisions can have on us and on others over a given period. So, before making that decision, first think of the effects it might have on your health, career, finances, family and community.
4. Beware of the Turtle’s disease
Whenever a turtle is threatened, he quickly pulls his head inside his protective shell. But, with his head tucked in, he can’t move. So, he remains immobilized because he is afraid of sticking his neck out. Many people avoid making right decisions because of criticisms or the hostilities of others. While no one is asking you to stick your neck out when a cutlass is dangling, the truth is that there is no real dangling cutlass in many of the situations that scare us.
5. The profit is in the doing
A very good decision that is not fully implemented may be worse than not making a decision at all. This is because of the resources that have already been committed to the decision-making effort, for which no value is gotten. The implementation and evaluation stages are critical aspects of the decision-making process.
More on the decision-making process can be found in this upcoming book: