Part 2 of 2
Not all tough decisions are negative. Some positive, fun decisions are also tough to make. Having a reproducible process to make decisions increases your chances of consistently making the right decisions.
In the selling business you constantly make decisions from the time you wake up and set daily goals and priorities to the time you set an agenda for the next day. Who do you spend your valuable time with today? What strategy do you use with each customer? Does this latest phone call warrant your immediate attention or do you postpone giving it attention until your prospecting activity goals are met? Who are you having a face to face appointment with today and what clothes are the most appropriate for those appointments? Etc, etc, etc?
In Part One we discussed three decision-making tools to augment the process you use to make the decisions you can comfortably live with. In Part Two I will add two more theories you can add to your repertoire.
Get in Touch with Your Intuitive Self
Many of us have met people who by nature have a strong intuitive side, and it seems like these people can arrive at the best ideas and most creative solutions with ease. You, on the other hand, may have to rely on your logical, analytical talents and information gathering to arrive at decisions you feel comfortable with. There are ways to become more intuitive:
- Gather as much information as you can.
Especially, if it’s an area you’re not too familiar with. Be wary of selective information. Get information from those who are closest to the problem. Be sure to factor in their own selective information biases.
- Give yourself permission to brainstorm.
All too often, we don’t let ourselves “wing it” to come up with outrageous scenarios in the hopes of coming out with a solution. This is especially evident in group decision-making where each member of the group feels reluctant in putting new ideas on the table. Change the ground rules and tell everyone it’s OK to work “off the cuff,” even though those ideas will not have been thought through. - Know the difference between left-brain and right-brain thinking.
The left side of the brain is logically oriented and the right side is the creative, intuitive problem solver. When people tell you “this decision feels right for me,” consciously or not, they’ve allowed their right-brain to work on the problem. What happens normally in group decision-making is everyone is centered on left-brain thinking. People pass around spreadsheets, market analysis and other left-brain material and each member of the group begins working in left-brain fashion. But when the left-brain is working the right brain shuts down. Add stress to the mix and your right brain doesn’t have a chance to surface.
- Learn about “Insight”.
Have you ever noticed when you’ve stopped working on something and come back to it at a later time you come out with a better solution? This process is also known as the process of Insight--those “Ah-ha’s,” or moments you’ve had where suddenly everything becomes crystal clear. One way to help this process along is to change your physical setting. Instead of sitting at your desk and letting your left-brain take over, move to a different location. Driving in your car may work for you. Or maybe you’ve noticed more ideas come to you in the shower. Everybody comes up with real winners while on vacation, when you can feel the sand between your toes and hear the roar of the surf. Airplane travel is also a source of right-brain activity for some people. Have you seen the US Air television commercial where a night sky is filled with hundreds of illuminating light bulbs? Another way to facilitate the process of Insight without leaving your seat in your office is to simply close the door, shut your eyes and take five deep, slow breaths. This will change your mental state immediately, which helps your left-brain to calm down and allows your right brain to dominate.
- Put Mother Nature to Work for You!
Most of us have had far-fetched ideas that come to us right before falling asleep, right before waking up and certainly during our dreams. Mother Nature makes sure we shut our bodies down every day of our lives. It’s in those nighttime and early morning moments that our right brain has free reign over our entire mind. Capture those thoughts. Write them down or record them on tape immediately after you experience them . . . even if you don’t know what to do with the thought, because those thoughts are slippery little guys that are hard to recall even minutes after we think them. You’ll be surprised how much more creative you’ll become by turning this process into a routine.
Check Your Original Premise
Work through solutions and choose the best one. If you have the luxury, sit with that solution overnight or a couple days. Then go back and review your original premise. Take a hard look at what you were originally trying to accomplish. If your choice still feels right and makes logical sense, without any modification, then it’s the right decision.
I hope this will make your decision making process more enjoyable next time you are face with a major one.