LEARN
Something Worth SharingJudging The Decision Making decisions isn’t easy - well maybe it is occasionally - but how we think and feel about our decisions is fascinating. Many of us overly analyse our thinking and options in the hope of making what we believe to be “a good decision”. But let’s look at this a little closer…there are a few steps involved in making a decision - whether big or small: The background that leads up to the need / point of decision The decision itself Stuff that happens around the decision The result / outcome The meaning / judgement
When I was younger, I certainly remember thinking that it was simpler - you make a decision and then decide if it was good or bad. As a simple example, imagine it’s a sunny day - not a cloud in the sky - and we have a coffee arranged with a colleague. The decision we make is to take a lightweight summer jacket, sunglasses and leave the umbrella behind. We walk to the meeting and enjoy a lovely hour with our colleague. While there, our attention is drawn to the customers who suddenly flood into the coffee-house dripping wet from head to toe. The colleague asks if we’re ok - to which we reply “absolutely, but it looks like I made a bad decision leaving my umbrella at home”. The questions here are: Did we understand the background? Yes, it was sunny and there were no clouds. What was the decision? To leave the umbrella, it wasn’t necessary. What happened around the decision? Nature took its course and it rained. What was the result of the decision? We may get wet or need to buy a new umbrella. What meaning / judgement do we give our decision? It wouldn’t have been a bad decision if it hadn’t rained - and we can’t control the rain.
Many decisions have stuff that happens around them that we have little or no influence over. This is what influences the result and outcome. How we assign meaning (good, bad, brilliant or poor) to that outcome is a choice. The other big ‘learning’ here is that the outcomes of a decision can have many points and meanings - the immediate result plus the longer-term impact. Imagine the example above again…what if the rain meant waiting in the coffee-house for an extra half an hour, and we happen to bump into the person of our dreams and begin an amazing romance? Leaving the umbrella at home was a great decision now!
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