On Tuesday night, I hosted a Webinar on ‘Making Phindu-full decisions’. Today, we want to share a summary of that discussion.
It starts with having a purpose in life. Once you live a purpose-driven life, you are able to set goals for yourself. Goals you want to achieve in 10 years, in five years, in three years and in a year’s time. Once you have the goals, you make plans that help you to realise your goals. Then those plans translate into daily actions you want to take in order to implement your plans. When you do this, you will be seen and known to be a very organised person. This is how organised and successful people lead their lives.
When you want to make a good decision, you need to start with identifying the goal you want to achieve. Why are you making the decision? What’s the ‘phindu’ for the decision you want to make. If you are not clear about the goal, chances are that you will make a wrong decision. You will be surprised that a lot of people make decisions without clarity of what they are trying to achieve! Do not be one like them.
Next, you need to gather information. This must be relevant information that will enable you to make a good decision. The information must also be complete not partial. Only get information that is credible and from credible sources. Not rumours and not fake news. These days with a lot of online and digital information, it is easy to get a lot of information. At the same time it is easy to get fake information. So, you need to be alert and careful.
Once you have the information, you need to develop and weigh the decision options that you have. Compare the benefits and consequences for each option that you have. You need to make a decision that on the balance has more benefits compared with the consequences. Additionally, the consequences need to be ones that you can bare or tolerate. Do not take a decision that is accompanied by extreme consequences like making you die, go to jail or suffer for life or for a long time.
Having gone through this process above, you are now in a position to make the decision. Remember the 40-70 rule of Colin Powell. And so, while you want to make a decision when you have enough information, you will not wait forever. Colin Powell says that a minimum of 40% of the totality of information needed is enough to make a good decision. He further says that when you get to 70 percent then you need to make the decision because beyond that, it will be taking too long to make a decision that is still relevant, impactful or timely. Time is of essence when making a good decision.
There are other factors that you need to consider when making a good decision. Do not make a decision simply because you want to break a record or to shine. Rather make a decision that helps you to achieve your goals of life. Never make a decision when you are not in a state where you can make a good decision. For example, do not make a decision when you are too happy, over excited, too sad or confused or drunk. You need to be in a good near neutral and sober mood to make a good decision. There are times when you have nothing to lose or times when you stand to lose everything for example reputation. It takes a whole life to build your reputation and only one bad decision then you lose it all. These are important issues to consider when making phindu-full decisions.
Good luck as you employ the successful framework above for making good decisions. If you master this art, you will surely rise and shine!
