Make A Decision!

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You are sitting in a restaurant looking at a menu. While you are looking for something that tickles your palate, you are also eliminating choices.

Most restaurants will have around 30-40 possible choices or combination of choices for you to decide upon.

When you reach that final menu choice and order your meal, you have made what is called a decision.

What Is A Decision?

In poker terms making a decision would be the same as “going all in.” You have rejected all other possibilities or options and put all your money on that one hand.

Trying something and hoping for the best is not making a decision. That’s more of a guess.

I’m making this pretty serious considering it’s only ordering a meal in a restaurant, but it puts decision making in a perspective that’s easy to understand.

Simple vs. Serious

Could you make the decision to pull the plug on a loved on who is on life support? That’s a very serious life and death decision.

Everything we do in life all day everyday is a series of decisions. Some are simple, some are more complex.

Many are based on previous experience. I did this before and it worked out well then so let’s try it again.

Some are totally new experiences for you. There is no way to know the outcome of your action or inaction. But one thing is sure. If you don’t take action life will.

Connecting the Dots

Entrepreneur Steve Jobs says that you can’t connect the dots in the future, but the dots you connected in the past can help you with the direction you take in the future.

The more decision making experience you have the better your chances of success will be.

Flipping A Coin

Our subconscious mind often knows the right course of action and battles with our more emotional conscious mind when making decisions.

When faced with this conflict, I flip a coin.

If I am happy with the result I have my answer. If I am unhappy with the result and want to do the best three out of five flips I also have my answer.

Some Final Thoughts

There are volumes of texts and studies about how the decision-making mind works.

But one thing is certain… not making a decision won’t always keep things the way they are.

Avoidance of communication is one of the biggest causes of divorce. It’s hard to confront your partner and work out problems to everyone’s satisfaction.

Business decisions are particularly stressful. Money, jobs, the future are all considerations.

The wrong decision could cost you everything.

Fred Smith, the founder of FedEx, bet every dime he had on the spin of a roulette wheel in Vegas or he would not have been able to make payroll that week.

Picking red or black, I would say, was a stressful decision.

Get rich, lose weight, stop smoking, all require not just one but a variety of decisions to accomplish those goals.

But unless decisions that change something are made you will not get rich, you will not lose weight and you will not stop smoking.