Lessons for Right Decision Making

Over the last two years, of the many things, one thing that I have prominently learned from my husband is – right decision making. He is known for his vision and good decision making so this is one thing I particularly made efforts to develop.

In changing times, as of today, one has to make many quick decisions. Realizing the importance, subtlety and intricacy of the process of taking effective and right decisions, many management gurus and thinkers gave their theories and models. Famous lateral thinker Edward De Bono came up with his ‘Six Thinking Caps’ and Vroom, Yetton, Jago developed their model called Vroom-Yetton-Jago Decision Model. But I guess I learned the basics practically and in a much simpler way.

I think it is not the decision or the choice that you have made which decides your altitude but how you work upon the decision or how you try to get the most from the choice you have made.

No decision is right and no decision is wrong. If it were so, there were not choices, We would have had just the tried and tested formulas available and there would not have been any confusion anywhere. The only source of confusion is that every thing is right if done rightly and everything is wrong if done wrongly.

Confusion arises only when the options available are comparable in nature. And since the options are comparable, this means they have their own pros and cons. Thus, whichever you take brings some advantages and disadvantages.

Does this mean we should just blindly pick something as nothing is good and nothing is bad!? No. Of the good choices present, pick the better one keeping following things in mind.

It’s not the decision but your hardwork that decides the final result – The innocent choices that we make daily don’t really matter, what actually and finally matters is how we make the best possible use of the choice that we made. Once a decision is taken, no matter how difficult it seems to be, irrespective of how many times we repent taking it, we must learn how to defend it. So many times we hear successful actors/actresses saying that acting happened to them by chance. Very few lucky beings know what they exactly want. The rest, make deliberate choices and stand by their decisions and succeed.

Not logic but your attitude matters –

‘It’s not your aptitude but your attitude that determines your altitude’.

Someone has rightly said it. While taking decisions, don’t calculate. First ask yourself what is it that interests you the most, what is it that you actually want and then decide based on the answers. Lifes most important decisions are taken based on your attitude and how you work towards them. If at all, you are unhappy with any of your decisions, rectify it. But many decisions in life don’t have an undo option. In such situations convince yourself that there must be a plan for you, which is why you have chosen this path and then move ahead with full vigour and zeal.

Keep your long term aim in mind – This is perhaps the easiest and the most important tip. While making a decision, keep your long term goal in mind. Don’t get baffled with the short sighted gains or instant wins. Keep reminding yourself the ultimate goal you have set for yourself and then decide.

Be informed – A good decision is a well informed decision. Until and unless we have the right and most recent updates of the product or the situation, we can’t make a good decision. So, be aware, be informed.

Keep a record of the past decisions – It is very important to learn from mistakes. A mistake once committed is a learning step but a repetition of the same is foolishness. Keep a track of your past decisions and learn from them. To do this, whenever you take a decision analyse it. After a while or after we have achieved our purpose, we should analyse if the choice we made is right or not. This way, it will be easy for us to learn from every action we take.