1310
themselves, "I know Joe/Jane is a nice guy/gal but I just don't want to
live with him/her for the rest of my life." Or: "I know accounting is a
good career, but I couldn't be happy doing that all day every day."
Your feelings, needs, and wants must be given serious attention too.
Know thyself, don't deny your feelings.
STEP SIX: Select the best solution from among the alternatives
you have considered.
Usually you can eliminate poor solutions by recognizing they won't
work or require skills and resources you don't now have. Other choices
can be eliminated because they might involve too high a price--some
kind of potential disaster. As with self-help plans, try to combine two
or three of the best ideas.
Two hundred years ago, Benjamin Franklin made this
recommendation: write down the pros and cons for each alternative
choice and assign a weight (0 to +10) to each pro and each con (0 to -
10), indicating how important that factor is. By adding up the pros and
cons (each weight) you get a total score for each alternative choice.
Then, by comparing the totals for each alternative course of action,
you can usually determine the best choice. This is a benefit/cost
analysis . It should involve weighing the eventual effectiveness of the
solution in solving the problem, your emotional well being during and
after the solution, the time and effort required, and your overall
personal and interpersonal well being in the end. This is a very
complex process, mostly used with important decisions.
In some ordinary circumstances, it is reasonable to select the first
acceptable solution rather than continue searching for an ideal
solution. Suppose at 9:00 P. M. your family needs a hotel or motel
room for the night in a city filled with conventions. You had better take
the first acceptable room you find. If you have time, say it's 4:00 P.
M., you might be much better off exploring the area and looking at 3
or 4 rooms. In other instances, your intuition, as mentioned in the last
step, can weigh the alternatives adequately. Watch for biases,
however. Optimists tend to over-emphasize the opportunities in
certain choices while pessimists exaggerate the possible dangers in
certain choices. Usually, if the decision is a major one, you need to
weigh the pros and cons, and get a second opinion to double check
your judgments.
Unfortunately, many decisions become exceedingly complex, either
because there are several alternatives or many pros and cons to
consider. Moreover, the weight you would assign a pro or a con will
probably vary from time to time. Examples: if you are trying to decide
among careers in psychology, medicine, chiropractic, social work, or
high school guidance, there are many factors to consider, such as
length and quality of training, employment outlook, probable income,
work hours, satisfaction with the work, opportunities for private
practice, status in the community, and many others. You would have
to seek out many facts. Most importantly, you should talk to people in
