Best Way to Make a Decision

Best Way to Make a Decision

OWNERS' MANUAL | Jeff Haden

Jun 6, 2012

The Best Way to Make a Decision

Ask yourself this one question... and then forget about what everyone else thinks you should do.

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Fortunately Derek Sivers stepped in and saved me.
(Well, not literally.)
A very nice lady had asked me to speak at a local business function. I was flattered and it sounded like fun... but I already have plenty to do, and the audience, while large, isn't in the market for a ghostwriter.
So I was on the fence until I remembered Derek's credo: "No more yes. It's either HELL YEAH! or no."
Since agreeing to speak would have fallen solidly into the, "Oh, okay, I guess so..." category, I turned down the opportunity.
And I was immediately glad I did.
The key to using the Hell Yeah! approach in business and in your personal life is to focus on the only person that really matters when you make a big decision:
You.
Sure, seeking input is natural. Most of us are trained to actively solicit opinions, bounce ideas off others, and run ideas up proverbial flagpoles in order to harness the incredible power of a group and make awesomely wonderful decisions.
The problem is the main power wielded by group thinking is the power of the middle ground. Groups grind away the edges and the sharp corners. After all of the input and feedback and devil's advocacy what remains is safe, secure...
...and similar.
If you want to be different and achieve "different," the only person that matters is you. Group decisions give you an out. Other people can be least partly responsible. Other people can be wrong.
When you make the decision it's all on you: Your vision, your passion, your motivation, your sense of responsibility. You will try harder, if only to prove others wrong.
You will persevere, if only to prove yourself right.
And that's especially true when you start out thinking, "Hell yeah!"
Say you're trying to choose a location for a business. It's easy to decide six or eight "OKs" equals "awesome!" It's easy to check off mental boxes: "Parking, OK; traffic volume, OK; storage space, OK..." and decide an average location with no real negatives--but also with no outstanding features or qualities--is a great location for your business.
But, of course, it's not. An absence of negatives never equals a superlative. Look for excellent, not acceptable.
Never settle for "good enough."
Make as many decisions as you can based on the Hell yeah! principle and you'll be a lot more successful... and a lot happier.

Read more:

5 Things to Un-Learn From School

Is Technology Killing Your Company?

5 Reasons You Aren't a Great Boss

Jeff Haden learned much of what he knows about business and technology as he worked his way up in the manufacturing industry. Everything else he picks up from ghostwriting books for some of the smartest leaders he knows in business. @jeff_haden

End quote from:

http://www.inc.com/jeff-haden/the-best-decision-making-criteria-of-all.html?partner=yahoo-smb

When I was young my father said to me, "As a man you will have to keep making decisions constantly the rest of your life. The important thing is to just keep making decisions. Don't get all upset about having to make so many decisions like many people do. Just keep right on making them because you have to. But be aware that as you learn more about every situation in your life you can often change or modify your decisions on the fly as you get more and more information. Very seldom are you stuck for life with any decision other than the decision to just stay alive every day." So, in this way he taught me to be somewhat dispassionate about decisions because everyone has to make them all the time. Very seldom is there a decision of that much import other than getting married or starting a business or having kids or something like that where you just have to see it through as long as possible(sometimes for life). So, just keep making decisions but I agree with this article that one shouldn't decide to make most big decisions unless your heart is really in it. Otherwise life just becomes so cardboard like that "Why be alive at all?" So, remember to follow your heart. Otherwise, nothing has any meaning in the end.