Evaluating Decisions
Hello Reader,
How do we know if we have made a good decision or not?
I created the following quadrant model to help me explore this question. Reader, please critique and/or build off of the idea as this is just a first step and I believe we can improve the concept together!
As you can see, we have right & wrong reasons on one axis, and successfully or unsuccessfully met the target of the decision on the other. I am aiming for the top right box, ‘Yippeee!!’, where I have made the decision for the right reason and I have successfully met my target.
Two things are necessary for evaluating decisions according to this model. Firstly, we need to have expressed clear outcomes when making the decision so that we can look back on it in due course and measure if we have met the target. Secondly, we need to know what the right and wrong reasons are. I find it easier to understand the wrong reasons; those of laziness / easiness, carry over emotions, irrelevant voices, unfounded fear, society’s expectations, or staying in my comfort zone. The right reasons include leaning into our values and listening to the relevant voices for the specific decision.
Voila, there we have it, a brief conceptualisation into evaluating decisions.
Further Questions:
Can we evaluate a decision in the present? Or only in hindsight?
What is more important, the outcome of the decision or the way we made the decision?
As the decision was made in the past, can we ever truly and clearly judge the decision? Our future / present selves are ‘updated’ from the self that made the decision and to look back on it is to look back with a different mindset.
Can our rating of a decision change depending on when we are looking back on it?
Excellent, I look forward to hearing your thoughts and helping me strengthen this quadrant model.
Happy doing!
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