First, making decisions requires priority. Although this may sound pretty straight forward, it actually is not. Not many people realize the full potential of prioritizing. Prioritizing requires not only to put into account of things we can measure, but also consider things we can not. One example of this is passion. I am a dancer, and like to dance a lot. When I need to make an decision between wither to go dance or prepare for an exam two weeks from now, I will put into account of my passion as well. There is no straightforward means of calculating "passion", so i manage this by giving the activity a +1 priority. I may consider dancing as a more viable means on using my time, or may decide to work on my essay according to the strength of my priority.
Unlike priority, time is about asking the same question over a long period in order to exclude spontaneous actions from decision making. This skill extremely comes in handy when you are moody. It is not always easy to determine what kind of emotions are going through your body, and by asking the same question multiple times it is possible to gain a more average and thoughtful opinion. I have found this skill very effective when deciding on what kind of internship I intend on going to. My short-term decision was to go to an design-based IT website company, and get in touch with designers who are not anchored into a specific location of timezone. However, after asking myself the same question many times, I came to realize that I wanted to learn a more extensive skill that would ultimately lead to the kind of life I wanted. I therefore decided to also pursue an internship program that would give me experience in starting up my own company, at the same time as being an IT consultant.
Priority and time-span-decision making. These two are my two structures on making a choice. Trust me, it helps.
Hi Koji,
ReplyDeleteThank you for these last posts (and should you still wish to make another that would be great and I will read it but for now I need to address these). And thank you for all of your blog posts this term.
I find it very interesting that you have such a wide range of interests, yet a great deal of focus as well (IT/Design, having your own firm). Such motivation and ambition will serve you well, and I hope that there was content in our class that will help you to become the decisive yet benevolent leader you hope to become. I think you will do very well.
Wishing you the best
Ken