I recently had to decide whether or not to continue working in Jakarta from my apartment or move back home and not work, the decision may seem seem like a no brainer, but the reality is there were a lot of factors to consider, initially my gut reaction was to stay in Jakarta and continue working but after applying the decision making process that I have learned over time I was able to arrive at the decision to move back home, After following the news updates and seeing how quickly Jakarta has become a hotspot for the virus it would appear that the decision I made was correct.
How did I make the decision?
During any given day we make hundreds of decisions without a second thought, it would seem but the reality is if you have a framework to make decisions, it makes it much easier for you to make the right decision, making your thinking visible by hanging it on a framework, considers the following:
- What is the the reason for making the decision – Write it down
- State the purpose behind the decision
- Make a List of all the alternatives
- Evaluate each of the options then think about potential risks with each one
- Jot down the risks
- Now review and choose your best alternative.
Why is this important?
It defines the purpose of the decision, it allows us to evaluate the alternatives and it gives us the opportunity to evaluate risk, now we can feel confident that we have made the right decision.
Many times when I see people not going through the steps the common pitfall is they make a decision without really assessing all the factors which leads to a bad decision.
