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plans for both (a) how to succeed and (b) how to deal with possible
problems. Remember: if anything can go wrong, it will (Murphy's
Law). You need energy, hope, time and dedication. Frequently
evaluate the effectiveness of your action and make changes in your
plans accordingly. Take pride in your decisiveness.
Time involved
Naturally, careful decision-making takes more time than sloppy
decisions. How much more time? In simple decisions involving two or
three alternatives, it may take only a few minutes to systematically
weigh the four or five pros and cons for each choice, assuming you
already have the information you need. In complex decisions, like
career choice or sexual choice, a great deal of time may be needed.
For example, in choosing a life-long occupation, to get the facts and to
know how you feel about specific careers, you may need to take a
course or two in this area (150-300 hours), do some reading about the
3 to 5 occupations you are considering (20-30 hours), match your
abilities and needs against the requirements for each career you are
considering, take aptitude and interest tests (10 hours), talk to a
career counselor (5-10 hours), observe and talk to practitioners in
these fields (40-80 hours), talk to family and friends (4-5 hours) and
have an internship in one or two of these occupational fields (100-
1000 hours). You may be saying, "That's ridiculous, no one ever does
that!" You may be right that few people do it, but that doesn't prove it
is a bad idea. I think your grandchildren will do it. Considering you
may spend 100,000 hours in your career, a 100 hours--and even 1500
hours--is not too high a price to pay for making a good decision. See
books about career choice below.
Common problems
Some people are just not patient and orderly enough to list the
alternatives and weigh the pros and cons of each. Some take pride in
making snap decisions. It must be granted that sometimes the choices
are so equal that no amount of time and effort will produce a clear-cut
advantage for one choice over the others. In those cases, you might
have done just as well by flipping a coin in the beginning. But you
can't be certain the choices are equal until you have carefully gone
through the decision-making process and considered each option.
Obviously, not every little decision, like what movie to see,
warrants all these steps. Just use the process when you need it.
Effectiveness, advantages and dangers
This method encourages careful consideration of several
alternatives, awareness of emotional pitfalls and values, weighing the
pros and cons, and developing a game plan. Surely, this is wiser than
reacting impulsively. However, there may be an even wiser middle
ground. Ellen Langer, the Harvard professor who champions
"mindfulness," suggests a different mind-set to decision-making. For
