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20 Ways to Make a Decision

airstream, by ubercultureMy husband and I are in the midst of dealing with what we’ve dubbed La Bombe – the bomb our landlord dropped on us when he informed us that he and his new family will move into our apartment. We’ve got until the end of October.

Tricky timing, though. The upcoming winter Olympics here in Vancouver mean that housing is rapidly becoming as valuable as gold and landlords are tending toward short-term, mega-buck renting rather than longer-term.

So we’re using La Bombe to examine some out-there ideas, like moving to Germany or to a little island off the coast of mainland British Columbia.

We face lots of options on lots of levels. Decision proliferation threatens to lead to decision paralysis. In response, I’ve developed a reference list for ways to make a decision. Different ways work at different times for different circumstances.

  1. Weigh the pros and cons
  2. Ask a trusted advisor
  3. Gather more information
  4. Take a leap of faith
  5. Prioritize
  6. Vividly imagine various outcomes
  7. Set a deadline
  8. Hire an expert
  9. Sleep on it
  10. Do something, even if it’s wrong
  11. Meditate
  12. Use consensus
  13. Be impulsive
  14. Let joy lead
  15. Abdicate responsibility
  16. Consult the I Ching
  17. Heed intuition
  18. Do a trial run and evaluate the results
  19. Ask a gathered group
  20. Wait until the last moment

Flickr photo: airstream, by uberculture

Related reading: How to Stop Time, Grace Kerina’s Five Rules for Life, Why Germany is Great for HSPs

This was written by ownerceo. Posted on Monday, August 3, 2009, at 9:22 am. Filed under How To. Bookmark the permalink. Follow comments here with the RSS feed. Both comments and trackbacks are currently closed.

3 Comments

  1. jo martin wrote:

    What a GREAT opportunity! Wow! Exciting life changes abound (well, except, perhaps, for the packing and unpacking of boxes, LOL!) – mind teeming with ideas, soul stirring, adventure calling! Go for it – whatever *it* turns out to be.

    Monday, August 3, 2009 at 12:27 pm | Permalink
  2. Andrea Ballard wrote:

    What a great list. I am going to print it out and throw it up on my wall. And place a HUGE note next to Number 3 that says “Don’t Spend Too Much Time Here!”

    Wednesday, August 5, 2009 at 6:24 am | Permalink
  3. Grace Kerina wrote:

    Ha! Andrea Queen-of-the-Quest, I’m with you on Number 3 being a sucking swamp, as you know. The dangling carrot in front of our noses is how to turn that into an unmitigated positive quality, with lots of great outcomes.

    And thanks, Jo, for your enthusiasm. Yes, “GREAT opportunity” stands ready as a mantra for me right now (rather than the mantra of “Aaaaaagh!”). Excellent suggestion.

    Wednesday, August 5, 2009 at 10:41 am | Permalink