Guest Post: How to make better decisions using PIE
photo credit: Binder Of Daemons
As I’m sure you’re getting to know now, from time to time on a Friday, we feature guest posts from really cool people who are changing the world, one step at a time. One such person is Ben Lumley, our regular ‘last Friday of the month’. In case you don’t know Ben he is a Motivational Speaker and Trainer from the UK who writes about personal development at 6aliens.com. Why not connect with him on Twitter @6aliens or if you liked this article then why not subscribe to his RSS Feed?
Ben is today’s Friday Follow #FF. Over to you Ben:
Decision making is a key part for any success venture. If you’re trying to move quickly on an opportunity you need to make an effective decision so that you can move forward and start building momentum. Similarly, if you’re trying to decide of a major aspect of your life or business then you want that decision to be the right one at that moment in time.
An effective decision, whether come to quickly or after a lot mulling over, is one that is definite. True decisions allow you to move forward confidently with out any need to worry later about whether it was the right thing to do.
Decision comes from the Latin word meaning to cut. Effective decisions cut off all other possibilities letting you and your business to take the next step necessary to confidently produce results in the future. When you make an effective decision you remove all of the other options because you have decided that this is the course of action you will take and there is no going back.
To make effective decisions can often be quite daunting, which is why often people take a long time over then that, frankly, most of the time isn’t necessary. To help you make better and more confident decisions you always need to consider P.I.E.
Past
One of the first things you need to do when making an effective decision is to consider the past. What previous experiences have you or your business had in this area that might either 1) have a positive influence on the decision or 2) cloud the process all together? When have you been in situations like this and not made this decision? How many times have you made this decision before and you’ve not produced the desired result?
Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying you should live and be controlled by your past. What I am saying is that success leaves clues. If you look back over the past you’ll find that, if you’re completely transparent, patterns will emerge of when you made a decision, took a deliberate course of action and you produced a certain result. That is useful stuff to help you make an effective decisions in the future.
Information
One of the problems we have as individuals sometimes is that we make ill-informed decisions. We react to a situations and without taking the time to ensure we have all the fact we rush into a choice that ultimately back fires on us.
If you need to make an effective decision today make sure you have enough information to make it. Notice I didn’t say “all” I said “enough”. Something we’re all really bad at sometimes is getting too bogged down in details and so we miss out on opportunities. To make an effective decision some times we don’t need every chapter and verse in order to choose. Don’t hide behind all the information you can find so that you don’t need to take any action. Get what you need and then move on.
Emotion
Emotions play a huge part in decision making. Have you ever made a rash decision about something because at the time you felt angry or frustrated? Have you ever then regretted that decision once you’d calmed down?
It’s critical that we understand the emotions we feel greatly effect our decision making skills. Whenever we’re in a peak state that’s negative we need to be very careful about the choices we then make. If there’s a decision to be made don’t do it from a position of frustration, anger or fear. Take a moment to get in the right mental state to make an sensible and informed choice.
Anyone fancy some PIE?
That pie does look rather good doesn’t it?
.-= Ben´s last blog ..Friday’s Personal Development Homework =-.
Ben:
Oh my gosh, my mouth is watering just looking at the pie. Now if I could only smell it.
Anyway, awesome post!
I am new to the Internet Marketing arena and effective decision making is important to me. As for the past, since I have none, I kind of rely from other successful marketers that share their successes and failures.
My biggest problem is the emotional side of decision making. I tend to make to many emotional decisions without clearly looking at the information needed to make an effective decision. This is where my wife comes in. She is my subconscious.
Again, thanks for the awesome post!
- Rick
.-= Rick Byrd´s last blog ..Blogging Tips – Oops! I Messed Up, Now What? =-.
Ben Reply:
May 28th, 2010 at 3:11 pm
Weirdly my wife is my sonuding board too. She’s my common sense when I seem to have lost my own.
Good luck with everything
.-= Ben´s last blog ..Friday’s Personal Development Homework =-.
It’s practically criminal to use an image like this one in a post. Good Lord, I want some of that!
Great system you outlined here. I’ve learned the hard way about making decisions or taking any form of action when I’m emotional. Bad move!
.-= Jean Sarauer´s last blog ..How to Kick Your Blog into Summer Gear =-.
Ben Reply:
May 28th, 2010 at 5:21 pm
Thanks Jean. It does look tasty doesn’t it?
.-= Ben´s last blog ..Friday’s Personal Development Homework =-.
Hi Ben,
This is a wonderful technique that I must try out. I haven’t hard of the PIE technique before so thanks for introducing me to it.
I agree – the pie picture looks really tasty!
Karen
.-= Karen´s last blog ..Two Inspirational Videos – Failure and Imagination =-.
Ben Reply:
May 28th, 2010 at 5:22 pm
Thanks Karen
This is actually my own system
.-= Ben´s last blog ..Friday’s Personal Development Homework =-.
Hi Ben,
Great post and I love the way you have broken it down to PIE….makes decision-making good enough to eat.
I always find that I/we can tend to look at bigger decisions as one big decision rather than breaking them down to their smaller steps. For instance, buying a house is not one big decision but rather a series of decisions ie. Deciding to look for a house to buy, deciding to go and arrange to see some houses, deciding which mortgage application to put in, deciding which house to put an offer in on etc etc
If we break things down, it can help make decisions smaller and easier to make and reduce the dreaded procrastination.
Thank as always for a great post,
Adrian
.-= Adrian Swinscoe´s last blog ..Video: Customer Retention can be Improved by How You Handle Customer Complaints – Delight From Dissatisfaction =-.
Spot on Adrian. The big decision should be broken down. You can’t eat an elephant in one sitting if you only had a spoon.
.-= Ben´s last blog ..Friday’s Personal Development Homework =-.
Hi Ben,
What at first seems crazy makes perfect sense once you understand it. I was thrown a bit by the title (which is a good thing).
This is an excellent way of looking at decision making. After all, effective decision making is essential for anyone who wants to be happy. And, this is where many people sabotage themselves.
Thanks for the tips! I think that I will be printing this and hanging it up in the office!
Have a great weekend!
.-= mark´s last blog ..Is Work/Life Balance just a scam? =-.
Ben Reply:
May 29th, 2010 at 9:26 pm
Wow thanks Mark.
You’re right we do all self-sabotage. I believe we do this because to make an effective decision that moves us on to the next stage of our life means to confront our deepest fear, either a fear of not being enough or not being loved. Instead we take the easy way out often which is to not make an effective decision and so not face our fear.
.-= Ben´s last blog ..Friday’s Personal Development Homework =-.
mark Reply:
May 30th, 2010 at 2:58 pm
I totally agree with that – you have fear of something and you know that if you beat it you will fear the next obstacle. I suppose that is a natural result of learning & it can hurt you if you dwell too long on it.
That is why I try to make decisions (relatively) slowly and act on them quickly.
Have a great weekend!
.-= mark´s last blog ..The 21 Blog Program – Increase Your Traffic Now =-.
Other than the fact that it took me a second to get reading because I really wanted a bite of that pie, I liked what you had to say!
It’s definitely important to consider past descisions when making current descisions. I’ve done some dumb things in my life, and I might even make the same mistake twice if I didn’t stop for a moment and tell myself to remember what happened last time … this also usually winds up incorporating emotion into the whole deal because I tend to get embarassed at those dumb things I wound up doing, and decide that I don’t wanna wind up in that situation again!
Matthew Needham Reply:
May 31st, 2010 at 6:59 pm
Ben, I think you’re going to responsible for an awful lot of people not being able to fit into their clothes this summer!
Ben Reply:
May 31st, 2010 at 10:23 pm
Yeah that seems to be the case Matthew.
.-= Ben´s last blog ..Make a Change – A Review =-.
Ben Reply:
May 31st, 2010 at 10:24 pm
The past plays a big part in what we do. The trick is to use the information wisely rather than living your life there
.-= Ben´s last blog ..Make a Change – A Review =-.
Hey Ben, This is a fantastically appetising post. This is also a particularly awesome acronym that you have applied to this system, ok badly worded: This system is fantastic, and the acronym is even tastier (ha …ha…) I especially liked that you defined Decision. The root of a word often gives us insight but in this instance it was particularly poignant.
Ill remember that next time I have to make a decision as I sometimes get confused between that and a compromise
Thanks Ben, popping over to 6alien now
.-= Alex´s last blog ..Tips to help you Focus & Win! =-.
Ben Reply:
June 1st, 2010 at 11:25 am
Hey Alex!
Glad you enjoyed it. Seems that everyone has enjoyed this picture.
Once you’ve started to make some effective decision you’ll build some momentum and then all you need to do is keep doing consistently
.-= Ben´s last blog ..Make a Change – A Review =-.
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