On the Nature of Decisions

Every one of us makes numerous decisions every day.

Many of our decisions are small, like - “What shirt should I wear today?” Some of our decisions are larger with more serious consequences, like – “How should I go about firing this employee?”

Some decisions trigger strong and challenging emotional responses, like – “Should I tell this person my true feelings?”

Other decisions involve trade-offs between goals, like – “Should I stick to my diet or eat that chocolate-dipped ice-cream cone?” ¹ [Often these decisions pit short-term rewards against long-term rewards.]

Some decisions involve massive risks involving money, reputation, relationships, etc.

Decisions involve the study of past and present data and the forecasting of future outcomes.

This is just a sampling of the ways you can sort decisions before you make them. If you take the time, and it will be a surprisingly large amount of time, to analyze the decisions you make in a 24-hour day then you will discover the wide variety of decisions you make. You will be able to consider the ‘nature’ of your decisions and you will be able to categorize your decisions by their ‘nature’ and confirm the frequency of each major type of decision.

But – odds are you will never do that 24-hour exercise.

Perhaps, you will buy into sorting your decisions into two types/natures: easy decisions & tough decisions? This simple sorting will be a very good first step toward understanding then planning the types of decisions you face regularly.

On the Method of Decisions

There are also numerous ways to make decisions.

Decisions can be knee-jerks and blinks, relying on unconscious responses, emotional waves and intuition.

Decisions can be crafted by masters and orchestrated by maestros. Capturing this in a shorter description - when we make decisions we can “Plan the Work and Work the Plan” [paraphrasing Napoleon Hill].

This article is about planned decisions, which can be sorted into 3 'methods' ²:

• (Individual) Command Decisions – where the decision maker, alone, makes the decision
• Consultative Decisions – where the decision maker seeks advice from others then, alone, makes the decision
• Consensus Decisions – where the decision is made by a group of people who commit to a shared decision and the actions required under the decision

Consultative and consensus decisions involve trade-offs, as examples:

• time spent on the decision,
• value of information used to make the decision, and
• level of buy-in or commitment to the decision.

As psychologists and judges will confirm:

• the ‘nature’ of the decision is important,
• the decision outcome is important, and
• the procedure or ‘method’ used to create the decision is important...especially if you want people to "buy-in".

Sorting Decisions by ‘Nature’ and ‘Method’

Simple tools exist to help people think through and sort out their decisions - examples include Pareto's Principle [80/20 Rule], Covey's Time Management Matrix and Berne's Transactional Analysis. Much time and effort can be saved by using these simple 1-page tools to sort out the best ways to make decisions. Also, these tools can be used to reduce decision-making conflicts and increase decision buy-in. It is a good idea to have a number of these tools in your decision-making toolkit. You can use them to set your personal decision-making rules and you can use them to communicate with others on your decision-making teams.

Here’s a starter tool you and your decision-makers can use to create a picture of the way you sort decisions by 'nature' and 'method' -

Footnotes

1. As a general rule: when decisions align with goals they promote good habits; when decisions do not align with goals they promote bad habits.
2. Brian Tracy recommended these categories. 

When alpha dogs collide you see raising of hackles and you hear snarls & barks...then comes the gnashing of teeth and to-and-fro attacks...much noise, much heated action. Then, sooner or later the battle subsides.

Tied to all this - 

Of course, as Napoleon Hill made so clear during the last years of his life - Ultimately, Nothing Matters. The day will soon come when the snarls and barks and even the painful yelps subside into memory. 

Ultimately, Nothing Matters.

Regardless, 'ultimately' does not apply to the current situation. The current situation is - now...and...now, right this moment, Many Things Matter...especially, if you have in your mind Personal Values and Personal Goals...let alone Personal Rules, codes of conduct, morals, etc. The stronger your convictions in these areas, the more things matter.

If you do not believe me then just ask a couple of alpha dogs. But, take care not to be bitten or at least snapped at during the process.

Confidence is a personal thing.

There is no reason to design your self-confidence in a way that fits someone else’s viewpoint or rules.

Your self-confidence can and should be as big as you want it to be…including believing you’re better than anyone else. If you choose to think that way, you will be in good company:

• consider how Muhammad Ali felt and thought when he was in his prime^1,2
• think about Wayne Gretzky – would any of us have told Gretzky to stop thinking he was the best?
• think about Napoleon who changed the world

Now, some people confuse confidence with cockiness/hubris/conceit…

Perhaps cockiness does correlate with confidence; perhaps, on average, confident people are cockier than people who are not confident?

Regardless: cockiness is not about what you believe; cockiness is about how you behave. You can choose to be confident without choosing to be cocky. And, confidence without cockiness is a magnetic, inspiring combination.

On the one hand -

No question – sometimes highly-confident behaviour can be off-putting to other people.

On the other hand -

No question – thinking you are better than anyone else can result in Olympic gold medals, putting a man on the moon…and numerous examples of business brilliance.

It seems to me…

Champions and serious contenders must believe they are better than anyone else. Otherwise they are doomed to not be champions or contenders for very long. This applies in the big picture [the major political stages, the premier-level sports stages, etc] and it applies on smaller-scale stages [your chess club, your karaoke contests, etc].

People with lesser ambitions should not impress their non-champion or non-contender beliefs on champions or other more-confident competitors. 

Footnotes:

1. I have special memories of Muhammad Ali. He ignited my life-long interest in the sweet sport. I remember, when I was very young, attending fight night at our local arena...watching Ali on the big screen, listening to my Dad and his buddies root for the other guy [ex. Joe Frasier]...and all the time wondering why I wanted Ali to win...and wondering what funny things Ali would say to the reporters after he won the fight. Sure, Ali was both confident and cocky. For me, his cockiness was a small thing to endure to witness his tremendous personality and humour...and, of course, his champion-level boxing performances.
2. In December 1999 Muhammad Ali received some rather special recognition. Here's a couple of examples: he was named Sports Illustrated's Sportsman of The Century and BBC Sports Personality of the Century.