Legal Law

10 steps to good decision making

Your life is the sum total of the decisions you have made. Decision making is a responsibility that every human being has to realize that he has. Every day you make many decisions from when you wake up until you go to bed. Some decisions will catapult the decision maker to the next level of success, while other decisions will cost the decision maker in terms of time, reputation, etc. In life, you will have to make decisions about choosing a career, whom to marry and become a life partner, start a business, religion, decide to grow and who to work for. This is simply a fraction of the number of decisions you make in a day. Some decisions are made having gathered all the necessary information, so they are called informed or calculated decisions. Some decisions will be good decisions when they produce good results or bad decisions in case of a negative result. Whether you like it or not, whether you’re ready for it or not, you’ll have to be making decisions your whole life.

Considerations

1. What is the financial consequence? – Weigh the costs. How much money do you need to take out for this to happen? Every decision you will make will have a financial consequence. It will affect your income one way or another. Someone has to pay for it. Who is that person and is he willing? When you count the cost, you are saying that you are prepared to meet all the obligations that the decision entails. You don’t want to make a decision today and be the one grieving a few days from now because of how hard and painful it is. Looking at the financial obligation up front will help you plan how to finance the decision in advance. I have seen too many projects that were started with the intention of being completed in a year, but due to misinformation, the same projects ended up taking 8 years because financial expectations were underestimated. Be thorough in your financial projections before you make your decision. You will save yourself headaches and frustrations.

2. What skills are necessary? – Will the decision require your experience? Do you really have the necessary experience to make things happen with excellence and precision without compromising the quality of the result? Too often, people realize much later, when they are already involved, that their expertise and experience is needed and they find themselves lacking. It’s worse in situations where it was a requirement and you made the decision to participate anyway because it “seemed” like the right thing to do. If you fall short after making a decision, by all means apply as soon as possible. Find the relevant course and do it. A person who is well positioned and fails to meet the correct intellectual expectations is a recipe for disaster in that organization. Decisions will be made not based on expert knowledge, but on assumptions and wind direction alone. It is too risky to accept a responsibility when you know that you will not increase your ability through higher education.

3. Who else is involved in this matter? – You definitely need to know who is behind the issue you are making a decision about. Are they people whose history you know and can trust? The credibility of other parties will make you say yes or a resounding no or no. A common example is in marriage: Do you know the values ​​and beliefs of the family you marry? As soon as you know that background information, you’re informed enough to take a chance or stay away altogether. It remains a fact that when many people are involved, areas of responsibility collapse, so progress may not occur as desired. When you know who else is involved, you need to be bold enough to know what they are bringing to the table before you make a decision. If you are a shareholder, who else is involved? Where have they been involved before and what was the result?

4. What are the legal issues involved? There is always legislation that governs how a certain aspect is handled. There are laws in a country that govern how each domain or facet should be managed. Sometimes people rush to decisions without thinking about the legalities and in the process earn themselves a bad reputation for ignorance of the law regarding that matter. Take the time to think about this before you say yes. Have you read all the fine print? Have you sought clarification on the legal jargon used? I’m not advocating that you go to law school. Hire an attorney who can provide legal advice or representation. Lawyers are trained to read between the lines and know what is the absolute truth or a mere fallacy. Familiarize yourself with the Acts of Parliament and stay current. Ignorance of a law is not an excuse for you to break the law in your decision; you will still face legal consequences.

5. How long will it take for the results to show? When you have an idea of ​​the deadlines, you can determine if you will be able to stretch your patience to that point or, rather, leave the problem on the table. You may be looking for an investment opportunity and making a decision about your finances. Find out if the investment option gives immediate benefits or come in the long term. If the position is such that the time frame doesn’t match what you want, then let those with the patience to wait do it. The last thing you want is to make a decision just because and then regret it in no time. Sometimes quitting when you’re already up to your ankles can have a negative effect on others involved in the same decision and may sound insensitive and unfair to you having cold feet later on. If you go in knowing that for the next 20 years, our tree planting requires investment while we don’t expect to harvest a single tree, calculate the cost of waiting and decide accordingly. Do you have the necessary patience and determination?

6. What is the potential return on your effort? Nobody would make a decision in the direction of something that does not bring a significant return. The expected return must be clearly communicated. Unless one is deciding to get involved in charity work where it is about giving, people generally want to know what is in it for them for the investment they would have made (Return on Investment). You certainly don’t need to be an accountant to tell the difference between a good business and one that’s more of a charity than an investment. It is important not to take promises at face value. There are people who are very good at advertising and attracting potential investors to invest in non-existent deals. His return must be as clear as daylight.

7. How will it benefit humanity? Sometimes people make huge sacrifices if the decision they make is for the benefit of a broader spectrum of humanity. I have often noticed that some of the wealthy people care about the needs of the general population. When you decide to satisfy the needs of the majority, you make money in the process. I observed in Zimbabwe that people who decided to make cheap and affordable clothing and food available to the common man made a lot of money compared to those who decided to cater to the needs of a specific niche market. Used clothing was imported; the food was manufactured and repackaged to meet the budget of someone who had $2 on hand. I saw 2 liter bottles of cooking oil being repackaged into 50ml plastic tubes; enough oil for two meals. However, the volumes that they would move are enormous. Are you going to benefit humanity with your decision or is it a means to satisfy you and your family? Make that consideration.

8. Who will be negatively affected? Your decision is not happening in a vacuum. This means that for every good decision you make, there are others who may be negatively affected by it. As a business, consider this; What effect will your decision on waste management have on the ecosystem and the environment? In your decision to reduce the cost of production by laying off staff, how many are involved and how many will be affected? Sometimes a decision will still need to be made, but when you consider the numbers, it can affect how you make decisions. When you have an idea of ​​the people affected by your decision, you can better cushion the effects of your decision in advance. If the place you are deciding to buy to put a plant will cause the relocation of residents, it would be necessary to know who is really affected and how the problem will be solved before making the decision.

9. What other priorities do you have at hand? As you prepare to make the decision to participate, take stock of other priorities you already have. Are you dealing with what you have now? Do you have extra time that you are willing to spend on this decision? If you are already struggling for time, no matter how lucrative this problem is, it simply means that you have to let it go or give up another previous commitment that you had. In most cases, the decisions you make are at the expense of previous commitments. You are getting what you want or have decided but you realize that in the same process you can lose what you had. If your new decision doesn’t get in the way of previous commitments and priorities in any way, then it’s worth considering. Sometimes people just weigh priorities and stick with those that perform better or are less strenuous.

10. What is the socioeconomic environment like? Is it conductive? Consider the socioeconomic background. I am aware that in some situations decisions are made without regard to what is outside. All I am advocating is that your decision should have all the relevant variables at hand. It’s okay to take risks, but a calculated risk is better than a blind one. The socioeconomic temperature of a nation affects the quality of the decisions you will make. From my farming experience, I realized that sometimes we would prepare the land and start planting even in the absence of much-needed water or moisture. In most cases, those risks paid off. I realized that it came from my father’s many years of agricultural experience, where he had studied rainfall patterns and documented them. He could easily tell that before long, the rains were coming. When such knowledge and experience are not available, I still advise that you look at the relevant variables and indicators.

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