Tag Archives: options

Taking Action

Action decisions are always yours to make.  The question of whether someone wants you to do something is relevant, but the decision to proceed or not is solely yours.

Sometimes we ask ourselves what does our signifant other or leader or key stakeholders expect.  Meeting expectations can be very fullfilling both for you and the person whose expectations you are addressing, but is it what you want to do.

You are in Charge

Whether the initial motivation to act originates internally (within yourself) or externally ( from others) you should never do anything that does not going to satisfy you.

That is not to say acting to the benefit of other (altruistic) behaviour is not the best thing to do but the underlying motivation, to ensure best results,  has to be your own.

Deciding to act solely on the request and expectation of others rarely leads to the best outcomes.  Not to say the obvious objective, what the other person wanted, will not be accomplished, it might.

However, doing something that is not what you wanted to do will have a negative impact on your psyche, maybe not readily apparent or immediate, but it will be there and over time personal resentment  could peak out its ugly head.

Do or do not, you choose

Whatever decisions you make, the most important advise to heed is your own.  You may decide to proceed or not, whatever option as long as it was your own selection all will be good.

Options

Often, the path you are following presents several options.  For example, if you are out for a walk and come to a fork in the road the obvious questions is do I proceed left, right or turnaround and go back?

After consideration  you conclude which option to select.  Based on your resolution the journey continues.  The outcomes may lead to your questioning or applauding the choice, in hindsight.

Of course the quality of the outcome (good or bad) can be a result of luck, your decision or a combination of the two.  The aspect within your control is the decision.

Making Decisions

Your approach to determining how to proceed is often impacted by environmental factors.  For example an element of urgency may be present limiting the time you have to analyse possible outcomes and associated risks.

Or you might have lots of time to gather information about each option; however, this can lead to analysis paralysis (overwhelming data stalemating the decision process).

Start with a plan

The best decision making begins with planning.  The planning effort needs to be tailored to the impact of the decison, priority and available time.   Whether high or low impact, quick or slow duration, considering how you are going to decide is invaluable.

The plan can be documented or just thought out in your head with the steps and timing remembered.   The key is to outline what considerations you want to make to  enable determiation of  effort, risk and expected outcomes.

Utimately the best decisions are formulated with an understanding of what it takes to achieve the desired results and what could go weong.