I recently met with someone I know and asked him how do you handle making tough decisions. He said he’s had to make hard decisions often and it’s never easy. One time he had to do an organisation and methods study while working for an organisation. The conclusion or recommendations in his report required that about hundred and 25 employees had to be retrenched. It wasn’t easy for him. So he decided to tear up the report, throw it in the waste paper bin and handed in his resignation.
What difficult decisions have you had to make in your life? What tough decisions are you postponing? Do you need to make decisions about your future that you never get around to making?
I recently came across an interesting fact about automatic, instinctive and emotional thinking. The researchers said this type of thinking relies on mental shortcuts that generate intuitive answers to problems when they arise. As an example, people know that they should save for retirement, yet they don’t sign up for a retirement plan. One survey found that people spend more time choosing a TV set or the location of a birthday dinner than setting up a retirement plan.
The second thinking system is slow, logical and deliberate. It’s not to say that one type of decision-making is better than the other but both have their pros and cons. Here, for example, is a question to test your thinking. A bat and a ball cost R1.10 in total. The bat costs R1.00 more than the ball. How much does the ball cost? Your intuitive response is to assume that the bat costs R1.00 and the ball costs $0.10. But do the maths and you’ll see that the ball cost five cents to have a Rand difference between the two.
You may have thought of a great idea for a product or service or a new concept to start some small venture of your own. You think about it and dream about it but one day when you need it, it may be too late.
Then, you might not have the resources. You may not have the time. You may overestimate how good your idea is and underestimate what sort of time and money it will require. You may be overconfident about market demand without having done anything to test whether there is demand.
If you are in this situation and you want to make a decision to change things in your life for the better, then “Breakthrough Ideas” will provide you with the right tools to make important decision-making about starting something of your own easier and faster. Ready to make that all-important decision but not sure what to do next? We’ve done the hard work for you, so what are you waiting for? Here’s the link.
