How to make every decision a good one…

 

Do you make good choices? Really? If so, how often?

Do you make good choices? Really? If so, how often?

  • Most of the time?
  • All the time?
  • Some of the time?
  • Hardly ever?

Making good choices will define the results you create in your life.

But most people don’t have a really good idea how to go about making good choices. You see, when we’re looking at a choice, we have to ask these questions and give honest answers:

“What are the things that can go right here? Best possible outcomes…”“What is most likely to happen?”“What are the things that can go wrong? The worst possible outcomes…”
   

And as we look at each of those three columns, we have to ask ourselves, “what’s the likelihood that you’re going to get the best possible outcome?” “Can I live with the worst possible outcome?” And “Is it worth it to do what’s most likely?”

By actually writing those three things out in three different columns (example above), It’ll be very clear, what is the right decision to move ahead with.

What’s the likely scenario?

Let’s say you’re thinking about getting a new job, because a lot of people are thinking about and doing that right now.

So, what is one of the best things that could happen? You could get a raise! That would be fantastic. There could also be more ease in your job. Obviously, those would be some of the best things that could happen.

What’s the worst thing that could happen? Well, you could get that new job and later decide you hate it or hate the people you’re working with every day. You could also get that new job and find out exactly why the person left that you’re replacing.

Now, if you leave right away, you’ve got this hole in your resume, and that’s going to look really, really bad, because you’ve job-hopped a couple of different times.

Other worst things? The economy could turn such that they start laying people off, and since you’re the new person, you’re the first one to be laid off and your family no longer has that income to rely on; that stability.

What’s the likely scenario? Likely you might get a little bit of a raise, and likely, you’re probably going to have more work to and it’s going to be harder to do the work because you’re new to the job and getting used to a new boss, etc.

So it’s likely, it’ll be more stressful than the situation that you have now. And likely, you’re not going to have the same depth of relationships as what you are enjoying now, so you’ll lose a lot of that feeling of connection. So, your decision grid might look something like this:

“What are the things that can go right here? Best possible outcomes…”“What is most likely to happen?”“What are the things that can go wrong? The worst possible outcomes…”
Get a raise
Less work
Better people
Better boss
Little raise
Little more work
to do
More stress at first
Less connection with people at first
More work
Might hate it
Worse co-workers
Job/conditions are worse
Hole in resume if…
1st out if layoffs happen  

Now you can go forward with a decision using the follow-up questions above.

You see, most people when they’re looking for a new job, for example, and they’re making a decision, look only at the one column and their decision grid looks more like this:

“What are the things that can go right here? Best possible outcomes…”“What is most likely to happen?”“What are the things that can go wrong? The worst possible outcomes…”
Get a RAISE!!!      

They’re going to pay me more. Yep, there’s always another side to that story.

Ask yourself these questions:

Now ask yourself this:

“How can you instead stay in this job and find a way to be worth more and create a career for yourself?”

It’s fascinating how the people who seem to do best in life tend to hang on to those jobs and find ways to continue to be advanced within their organization.

So, for career decisions and any decisions you make, ask yourself these questions:

  • How can you learn more?
  • How can you move ahead better?
  • How can you make better decisions in everything that you touch?

One Response to “How to make every decision a good one…”

  1. Mark Foley says:

    It’s fascinating how the people who seem to do best in life tend to hang on to those jobs and find ways to continue to be advanced within their organization.

    Don’t you think many people who move companies end up doing better quicker.

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