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It happens to all of us. We’ve got a tough decision, and we don’t know where to start. At first, we may think that gathering more information will add clarity. What sometimes happens instead is that we get mired down even more. This is the dreaded “analysis paralysis”. You’re too busy analyzing the situation to act. Some people let themselves get lost this way to avoid making a decision, not realizing that they are still making a decision - just doing so by default.
How it happens.
It’s not really that hard. Many of us deal with complex situations all the time. Say, you have an important work function. Not mandatory, but important for some reason. Now, let’s start off simple: Most of us don’t want to spend any more time at work than absolutely necessary. If you have to make a decision here, it’s a simple matter of whether or not the value of attending the work function is worth it.
Now, let’s crank it up a bit: In addition to all of this, you have been working non-stop for as long as you can remember. Your mind is mush, and you are starting to feel the effects in your health. You know that if you don’t take some downtime, you’re going to crash. Furthermore, the work function may provide you with information that you can use to your strategic advantage at work to improve your situation. Now, you have some complications. Time to turn up the heat a little.
Let’s say that you have a beloved family member with whom you were going to spend some time. (Let us assume that this will count towards downtime. Some loved ones can be taxing, but not in this hypothetical case). In addition, the work function is going to have that co-worker that drives you up the wall.
Usually it’s nastier than this, and it usually doesn’t have the 1:1 balance, but let’s take this for an example for now. So many factors, each of which might have a different meaning for you.
The method.
What I’ve found works for me is to break it down into the most fundemental components. This can be done in a couple of different ways, but my preference is to toss out anything that isn’t important to me. What is important to me in the picture and what is important to you might be very different things, but choice is a personal thing, so I’ll illustrate the method using how I would choose. First of all, the main players here are the loved one (especially if a promise was made), health, and strategy. If a promise was made, then that would be it. I don’t promise lightly, and don’t take them lightly. If there was no promise, I might check to see if there is capability to re-schedule. That leaves health vs. strategy. There is a chance that there will be some strategic information at this work function that I can use. How high a chance? How much of a chance is worth my health? For that matter, how much health is worth the job, and vice-versa? With an unknown chance for information that might be of help or not, I’d probably take the rest, simply because health is a crucial asset.
The breakdown.
The basic idea here is to take a complex situation, and remove layer after layer of junk so you’re just dealing with the core issues. That generally won’t make it simple per se, but it will let you make a decision based on your own values. Do I value health over a chance for an advantage at work? Do I value my integrity (promise) more?
If you can find a way to boil away the extraneous junk in the situation, you may very well find that the real problem is a no-brainer, having discovered that at the core, the matter is heavily weighted on one side as far as your values are concerned. For an example of this, see the bravest thing I’ve done.
A system requirement for this one would be a reasonable familiarity with your own values, or at the very least, a growing relationship and knowledge of your inner world. The better you know yourself, the better this works.
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