If someone is really unhappy in his or her job, many times he or she will not be aggressive enough about changing jobs or finding something better. The reason is that the unhappiness in the job has become expected, so the person is not really blaming himself/herself. But if the person finds a new job and is unhappy there, the person will feel like it is his or her fault.

I found this to be an interesting perspective.

There is a decision matrix that some people use to analyze decision-making.

Imagine a four-square matrix with Outcome on the top and Type of Decision on the left. There are four possibilities:

• Make a good decision with a good outcome.
• Make a bad decision with a good outcome.
• Make a good decision with a bad outcome.
• Make a bad decision with a bad outcome.

Consider making decisions in groups. 

If you make a status quo decision, a consensus decision, with a good outcome, is anyone hailing you as a genius? No. It was expected.

If you make a status quo decision, with a bad outcome, is anyone excoriating you? No. They say, tough luck. Not much you could do.

If you make a bold, unexpected, and risky decision with a good outcome, you are heralded as a great genius. 

If you make a bold, unexpected, and risky decision with a bad outcome, everyone calls you an idiot.

How does this affect our decision making? We want to avoid bad outcomes. So either we don’t make decisions or make very low-risk decisions or we just go with the consensus decisions.

There is a lot more to explore here, but it’s travel day so I will have to save that for a future post.

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7-13-20

It’s been a year, and I haven’t revisited this topic with much gusto. Nevertheless, I am fascinated with the science and art of making decisions.

One characteristic of my decision-making is that I do not dwell on bad decisions. That doesn’t mean I ignore them; I do learn from my mistakes but then I quickly move on. 

I also try not to take too long when making a decision. I think all but the most important decisions can be executed in a day’s time. You can’t wait for perfect information. 

Robert Kiyosaki has the story of the three cats. There are three cats sitting on a fence. Two of the cats decide to jump off the fence. How many cats are on the fence?

The answer is three. Until the cats actually jump off the fence, they are still on the fence. A decision is important and is the first step. But it’s not the same as action. So the first hurdle is making the decision, and the second (and perhaps most important hurdle) is to take action on that decision. A decision is nothing without action.

The vast majority of decisions you make are not game-changers that will significantly alter the trajectory of your life. Don’t sweat the small stuff.