The Art of Good Decision Making

If you consistently make good decisions, or make good decisions without fail, this is probably not for you. You’ve got a solid foundation that has held up well throughout the years and doesn’t need repair. Did you ever wonder how that foundation was built? The information in this article might be helpful in teaching your son or daughter how to make good decisions. However, if you sometimes find yourself asking saying “I wish I had done that differently”, this might be useful in improving your decision making skills.

This is about decisions and how to make them. You will not learn what to do here. Anyone can offer you good, onetime, advice on which TV or car to buy that may be useful. This is intended to answer the question how . How do you make good decisions when nobody is looking? What do you do when nobody is around to offer good advice?

Whether you’re six or sixty, a student or teacher, work on Wall Street or Main Street you make dozens, if not hundreds, of decisions every day. Most of us make these decisions with little thought and even less effort. Did you ever receive any training or classes on how to make good decisions? My guess is you haven’t. You’ve probably picked up whatever decision making skills you have along the way. You watched what your parents, teachers, friends and bosses did and mimicked them. Hopefully they were all good decision makers.

What should I buy at the grocery store? What clothes should the kids wear today? Should I buy the 36 inch LCD flat panel TV, or the 24 inch HDTV? Keep filling in the blanks. The list of personal decisions we make on a daily basis goes on and on, and on.

Do you know a friend, relative, boss or co-worker who makes really good decisions all the time? Did you ever wonder why some people have a knack for get it right all, or at least most, of the time? These people seem to have a natural ability to make sound decisions.

On the other hand you probably know a few people who can’t make a good decision to save their life. It is almost as if these folks were born to make mistakes (poor Decisions). Sometimes they get lucky and get it right, but most of the time they end up with the short end of the stick.

If you’re in a job that requires leadership, or are in a position of responsibility, such as a Teacher, Doctor, or Store Manager you will significantly increase the number of decisions you make every day. What are the standards for grading this assignment? What medication to prescribe? Does the customer deserve a refund?

Add together the number of personal and professional decisions the average person makes daily and the list can be staggering. Granted, most of these decisions are minor, seemingly simple choices that have no apparent impact on our day, or our lives. But some of these “quick” or “routine” decisions will have a long term impact on our lives and the lives of others. If you spent an extra $150 for that HDTV, that has some impact on your life this month (less money to spend on other things, more debt etc.). $150 worth of “quick” decisions monthly equals $1600 per year for you and your family. The doctor who makes a poor decision about a prescription is sure to impact a patient’s life. Even if no harm is done, the patient isn’t going to get healthy any sooner. Connect the dots, it all adds up .

I’ve spent over 26 years making decisions and watching people make decisions. Whether I’ve made more good, than bad decisions is for someone else to judge (hopefully I’ve made a few more good than bad). I’ve seen good, average and flat out bad decisions made. I’ve learned a lot from watching my seniors, peers and subordinates and have come to the conclusion that decision making is a learned behavior. Making decisions is a basic life skill, which is all but taken for granted. Most of us learn our decision making stills liked we learned to balance a checkbook. We either learned it early in life or we didn’t.

What is one decision you made that you have made differently? How would your life be changed if you had it to do over again? What series of small “routine” poor decisions led to a bad out come in the end? If you had “connected the dots” differently, how would the outcome have changed?

The intent of these articles is to provide the basic decision making tools upon which you can build a solid foundation to make good decisions. While the ideas in this book may seem fundamental, often the simplest things are the most difficult to accomplish. Get the basics right and the rest is easy.