Prioritizing Your Decisions

Time Management

Prioritizing Your Decisions
by Jeff Davidson



You can save yourself a lot of stress by choosing to decide on issues only when they are of importance to you. Decisions which don't affect your main priorities are a waste of time.

Each day, we are faced with a growing number of decisions. To discover which decisions are worth making, review your priorities and goals. What you establish as important in your life is immediately linked to the decisions that are worth making.

When something will have a significant impact on one of your life's priorities, it is a decision worth making. Anything less than that is a decision worth forsaking. Many people indiscriminately mix decisions worth making and decisions worth forsaking all day long, and treat them almost equally.

Decisions worth making are often conditional. If your boss requests that you make a decision, then the situation is clear cut. If you're single and trying to choose between Jean or Joan, your decision will impact the quality of your life in the foreseeable future--and perhaps for the rest of your life. The following are examples of decisions worth making:

* The choice of a spouse

* The choice of a home

* Big decisions that your organization or boss requests of you

* Where you'll live

* With whom you'll associate

* What course of study you'll pursue

* Whether or not you wish to climb to the top of your organization or your profession

Decisions worth making are not always apparent. Consider the five issues discussed below. Are they decisions worth spending any time on? It depends. In the list that follows, circle those decisions you believe worth making:

* The color of the next toothbrush you buy

* The next movie you see

* Whether or not to attend the next PTA meeting

* Whether or not to take your car in for a tune-up tomorrow morning

* What to eat for breakfast

Which are the right answers? As you may have guessed, there are none.

1. The color of the next toothbrush--For most people, this is a decision worth forsaking; it can't be that important. When might it be? If the decor of you home and bathroom is of utmost importance to you (don't laugh, it is for some people), this becomes a decision worth making. Similarly, if you are about to buy a toothbrush when there are already five red ones in your household, it would be appropriate to get a different color. If you bought another red one, it wouldn't have any significant impact on your life because the toothbrush is bound to look slightly different than the other red ones in your household. If you couldn't differentiate it immediately, you could always put a notch in it or a piece of tape around it.

2. The next movie you see--Understandably, you only go to movies that you think you'll enjoy, and when you see a movie that you didn't like, it was probably a mistake. Most of the movies you see might be for a diversion. If it is a form of entertainment, relaxation, and a chance to go out with friends, then the selection might not be of paramount importance.

It would be important if improving the cultural component of your life is among your priorities, and the movie is of the shoot'em up variety. You would not go see it. Of the hundreds of movies you've seen in your life, how many have truly had a significant impact on your behavior and activities? Few, if any. Thus, the decision regarding which movie to see, while seemingly important when standing in line at the theater, is of no long-term significance.

3. Going to the next PTA meeting--If your child's education or the betterment of your community is high up on your priority list, you would attend. If your child is doing extremely well in school or you're pleased about the school systems in general, you could skip one meeting, or a run of them. If it's a toss up between going to the PTA meeting, or seeing a movie, your priorities would make your answer pretty clear.

If, however, a good friend is coming into town that evening who you haven't seen in a long time, the field may shift in favor of seeing the friend. Perhaps you could do a little of both by asking your spouse to attend the meeting while you see your friend. Alternatively, your friend might accompany you for 30 minutes to the PTA meeting.

4. Do you need bring your car into the shop tomorrow--Has your car been running poorly lately? What is the cost of you being tied up on the highway and not getting into work on time, and causing 10,000 people to snarl at you? Can you bring work with you to the repair shop, or can they give you a ride back to work quickly after your arrival? Is preventative maintenance part of your overall plan to be ready and stay on top of things?

5. What to eat for breakfast--If you're already 32 pounds overweight and have no hope of ever getting back into shape, what you eat for breakfast tomorrow morning will be of little consequence compared to the longer term results you're likely to face. So go ahead and have that glazed doughnut with your coffee.

If maintaining a strong, healthy heart, living to meet your great-grandchildren, or becoming the first octogenarian to visit the moon is a priority for you, then the choice is clear: Post Grape Nuts. If 29 times out of 30 you eat a healthy breakfast and one day you splurge on high cholesterol, high fat, and highly sugared items, you're not going to upset the benefits of all the good that you do eating a healthy breakfast 29 times out of 30.


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Jeff Davidson, MBA, CMC, is a popular conference speaker and author of 28 books, including Breathing Space (Feb 2000). For books, videos, cassettes, or presentations, visit http://www.BreathingSpace.com, FAX (919) 932-9982, or call (919) 932-1996.