How do you make decisions?

Are you a hard-headed decision maker?  One who simply refuses to change direction once a decision is made?

Are you the indecisive worry-wart, filled with buyer’s remorse even prior to making the purchase?

Are you a “flip-flop’r”

From a recent trip I took to Gettysburg , where General Robert E. Lee’s decision to go through with what is known today as “Pickett’s Charge,” is still questioned today as to the validity of his thinking and decision-making abilities, to my most recent decision to retire from the Marine Corps after 20 years, during one of the worst economic times in history, I have questioned my own decisions in life often. 

Life is chock full of decisions to be made, but more importantly… to be managed.

Some simply use intuition or initial feelings to make decisions. Malcolm Gladwell refers to this as rapid cognition in his book “BLINK“. Others prefer the 100% solution where every avenue of approach is dissected again and again until risk is mitigated to near zero. And some of us use what we call the 80% rule. This is especially helpful when time is of the essence.

Whatever decision approach you choose, as leaders we are often faced with the nay-sayers and the worry-warts constantly poking holes in your vision and degrading your confidence. John Maxwell’s article below from Success magazine illustrates ways in which we can stand firm and be confident of our decisions and most importantly, NOT GET MIRED in indecision.

Nike said it best: “Just do it!”

Making Good Decisions Better

John C. Maxwell April 6, 2010

Noted philosopher William James said that once a decision is made, you should stop worrying and start working. It’s not always what we know that makes it a good decision. It is what we do to implement and execute it that makes it a good decision… maybe even a great one!

Let me explain. On June 14, 1969, my wife Margaret and I got married. That was a good decision. But, 41 years later, I’m here to tell that good decision has become a great decision. It’s become great because of what we have done after we made the decision.

Too many people overrate decision making and underrate decision managing. There are two possibilities in making a good decision:

•Manage incorrectly and have average results.
•Manage correctly and have great results.
We need both good decision making and managing for our decisions to get off the ground and become great. It starts with prioritizing. With all the decisions we make daily, how do we prioritize the decision-making process?

What’s the Main Event of Your Day?

I want to give you a very simple approach that I have used for years. Every morning, I take five minutes, look at my calendar, and I ask myself a very simple question: Of all the people I’m going to see, and all the things I’m going to do today, what is the main event?

How do you know what your main event is? Here are a few questions I ask myself to help me come up with my main event. I call them the three R’s of prioritizing:

1.What is required of me?
2.What gives me the greatest return?
3.What is rewarding to me?
Each morning, spend five minutes going through these questions, and once you have come up with your main event, I want you to spend more time, energy and focus on that main event than any other task in your day. You don’t have to be good at everything you do throughout the day, but you want to be prepared so you can accomplish your main event of the day.

Decision-Making Traps

Too often, leaders fall into traps that cause them to make faulty decisions. They may not realize that their methodology is flawed or their thinking lacks the necessary precision. Here are some specific pitfalls that can sabotage your efforts to express yourself wisely and decisively:

•Procrastinating. If you tend to dread the finality of taking a stand or calling the shots, you may be tempted to put off the decision.
•Surrendering. Exceptionally hard decisions can deplete so much of your energy that you finally cave in. Rather than surrender, break a big decision into its components and address those segments bit by bit.
•Hiding Behind Information. Many managers’ exacting standards crave unending stacks of data before rendering a decision. The more facts and figures they accumulate, the more they still want before they feel ready to decide.
•Saying Yes to Everything. You’re not making true decisions if you’re always giving the go-ahead thumbs up. Charles E. Nielsen nailed it when he said, “When, against one’s will, one is high-pressured into making a hurried decision, the best answer is always no because no is more easily changed to yes than yes is changed to no.”
I’m reminded of a great story that was told to me a few years back about former President Ronald Reagan that illustrates what can happen to us if we procrastinate making decisions. When he was a small child, he had an aunt who took him to a shoemaker to make a pair of shoes. When they arrived, the shoemaker asked the young Reagan whether he wanted the toes of his shoes squared or rounded. Not sure of the style he wanted, he told the shoemaker he would come back in a few days and let him know.

A few days later, he returned, only to tell the shoemaker he still needed a few more days to make his decision. As soon as he walked in the door the third time, the shoemaker handed him his shoes with one square-toed shoe and one round-toed shoe. Reagan said years later it was a lesson that stayed with him the rest of his life. When he wore those shoes, he said, “It was a visual reminder that if I don’t make the decision, someone else will.”

Managing Good Decisions
For most of this column, we have talked about making good decisions. Now, let’s get to how we can make these decisions better. You do this by managing good decisions. From my book Today Matters:

The Disciplines You Practice Today Will Give You a Better Tomorrow
The first ingredient of success—making good decisions—has no real value without the second, which is practicing good discipline. Let’s face it: Everyone wants to be thin, but nobody wants to diet. Everyone wants to live long; not many want to exercise. Everybody wants money, yet few want to work hard. Successful people conquer their feelings and form the habit of doing things unsuccessful people do not like to do. The bookends of success are starting and finishing. Decisions help us start. Discipline helps us finish.

Most people want to avoid pain, and discipline is often painful. But we need to recognize that there are really two kinds of pain when it comes to our daily conduct. There’s the pain of self-discipline and the pain of regret. Many people avoid the pain of self-discipline because it’s the easy thing to do. What they may not realize is that the pain of self-discipline is momentary but the payoff is long-lasting.

That’s how you make a good decision great. I close with my Daily Dozen that comes from Today Matters. I have these printed on a card that I read every morning to myself.

Just for Today

Just for today… I will choose and display the right attitudes.
Just for today… I will determine and act on important priorities.
Just for today… I will know and follow healthy guidelines.
Just for today… I will communicate with and care for my family.
Just for today… I will practice and develop good thinking.
Just for today… I will make and keep proper commitments.
Just for today… I will earn and properly manage finances.
Just for today… I will deepen and live out my faith.
Just for today… I will initiate and invest in solid relationships.
Just for today… I will plan for and model generosity.
Just for today… I will embrace and practice good values.
Just for today… I will seek and experience improvements.
Just for today… I will act on these decisions and practice these disciplines, and

Then one day… I will see the compounding results of a day lived well.

http://www.successmagazine.com/making-good-decisions-better/PARAMS/article/1035/channel/1715