Decision Making Process
Decision-making is likely to be the one factor that influences the direction of your whole life more than any other. It is likely to have a greater effect than even your level of formal education. The most important time to make the right decision is as soon as an opportunity reveals itself to you. In other articles we spoke about a process for spotting those opportunities and now we will discuss making the right choices that are ideal for you and your future.
What are the steps needed to make the right decisions when faced with opportunities? The first would be the actual recognition of opportunity, followed by the cognitive process or thought process. Cognitive research has shown that individuals must possess prior knowledge and the intellectual ability necessary to value that knowledge in order to identify new options available to them. Lastly, a prepared and streamlined decision-making process must be put into place.
There are many similar processes written by people from all different backgrounds. This decision making process was put together with the focus of taking advantage of presented opportunities.
When making a decision:
- Know your objective(s) and place them in order of importance or priority. Anticipate what could be or what is probable and possible.
- List and analyze the pros or strengths and cons or weaknesses of your available options. Weight those options carefully, do research, and seek expert advice on each and every one of them.
- Ask yourself if this opportunity will ever present itself to you again. Some opportunities are a one-time-only offer and you have to grab them before they slip through your fingers.
- Accept the positive and negative input of others. But make sure you know where their advice is coming from or how they derived it. Than evaluate that advice against your objectives.
- Make a tentative decision and then further evaluate it to look for additional possible consequences.
- Take decisive action and finalize your decision. Create an action plan if necessary.
- Adapt to changing situations and adjust your original decision accordingly.
- Review your decision after some time has passed. Write down what went right and if anything went wrong. The physical act of writing this information down on paper will ingrain it further into your mind and teach you, through your own experience, what the right course of action was. Use this important information to help you make your next decision.
The more practice you have at the decision making process, the better you will become at developing a more efficient procedure. Making decisions by using this format or procedure will become easier over time until the skill becomes second nature. Some opportunities are time sensitive, though, and demand a quick decision. So it is imperative that you become proficient at the decision-making process as soon as possible. If you are already practicing these methods and preparing yourself to seize your opportunity then you are one step closer to making your dreams a reality.
Remember learning how to recognize opportunities and then applying a sound decision-making process (coupled with using other people’s experience) will put you in a better position to exploit an opportunity when one presents itself.