Why do we need to prioritise and how can we be more effective in our decision making?
Why is prioritising the key to good decision making?
We have already seen that values are at our centre and act as a compass to help guide us. This guidance becomes very practical in decision making as our values help us prioritise.
Living in an age of choice
Being able to prioritise well, and therefore able to make effective decisions, is of ever-increasing importance today. Never before has there been so much information or so many choices for us to wade through on a daily basis.
In former times, people (especially academics) were valued for what they knew; the experts in their field were the gatekeepers to knowledge on any given subject area. But that power base has been somewhat eroded in recent years and the value of being a person who just ‘knows things’ has been diminished. What is the main reason for that? In short: the Internet. In the age of the Internet, we have more information at our fingertips than ever before in the history of mankind.
Internet by Birgerking via Flickr
We also have more choice than ever before. A supermarket is a dangerous place to go without a plan. Even with two simple staples, rice and sugar, you could fill a whole trolley with the various alternatives on offer in the aisles. When you go into a coffee shop you can no longer simply ask for a coffee; such a statement would bring consternation for the barista, impatience for other customers and shame for you! We all know that we need to practise our order while in the queue. We need to say “extra-large-double-shot-skinny-soya-latte to go” with confidence!
Analysis paralysis
But all this choice and information presents a new challenge; people are overloaded with information and paralysed by the number of choices available. The challenge today is not about knowing things so much as knowing how to sift, analyse and usefully apply the tornado of data that sweeps around us. Want a lesson in irony? Type ‘information overload’ into a search engine and see how many results it churns out in a fraction of a second!
“Getting information off the Internet is like taking a drink from a fire hydrant.” Mitch Kapor
Our values aid us in the battle against information overload and potential analysis paralysis. This is important as time is spent over decisions and there is an opportunity cost even just in deciding to spend time deliberating an option. Many people today will spend hours pouring over the next gadget to buy and yet fail to give time to decisions that really matter.
Information overload by SparkCBC
Making good decisions
Making a decision also relieves stress. The number of decisions we need to make, coupled with the importance of many of these decisions, can put us under real pressure. By reducing the number of decisions we have to make and actually committing, we can release pressure and reduce our stress levels. Introducing pre-planned systems, processes and delegation can also help.
One of the challenges that make decisions hard is that we are generally choosing between several good things. It is not just a choice between one good and one bad thing. This brings in a new challenge. As Jim Collins points out, the ‘good can be the enemy of the great’. Our limited time and resources can be used up on lots of good things but we could still end up missing the best thing.
Therefore prioritising is of critical importance. If we are going to achieve our best then we are going to have to make the right decisions. Our values will help to guide us and if you want help working out your values read:
If you want the right answers you have to start with the right questions
About The Right Questions
The Right Questions is for people who want greater clarity, purpose and success. There is a wealth of resources to boost your effectiveness in achieving goals, your leadership of yourself and others, and your decision-making.
Wherever you are on your journey, I hope that you find information on this site to help you on the next leg of your quest. Even if that is just the inspiration to take one small step in the right direction, then that is a success. If you can take pleasure in learning and travelling as you go, then so much the better.
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