All tagged How to make choices
Near the end of Crypto.com’s SuperBowl commercial earlier this year, in which Lebron James goes back in time to talk to his 17 year old self, the younger Lebron asks his future self what’s most on his mind:
“Is the hype too much? Am I ready?”
He’s looking for reassurance, of course, some certainty that the choices he’s about to make, the risks he’s about to take, are the right ones. Valid concerns for a 17 year old.
In my last post, I wrote that, instead of focusing on having more choice, we should focus on having more confidence in our choice.
This is harder than it sounds, of course, as it demands that we do the work to understand our values, our decision criteria and what it is we’re looking for, as we make decisions about the work we do. If we know what we want, then we’ll make better, more confident decisions.
Risk is a hard concept to really come to grips with.
I mean, we intuitively understand that everything we do comes with some measure of risk, which we accept as a normal part of everyday life. For example, crossing the street, driving a car, or getting on a flight entails risk, but we don’t generally give it too much (if any) thought.
We have these conversations with kids every now and then.
When they decide they want something, they’ll determine all the different benefits of having it. Solid benefits that are passionately communicated.
But what isn’t so well reasoned out is whether they need the thing in the first place. They just know they want it because their best friend has one, or all the kids at school are talking about it.
Forecasts and projections come with the territory, regardless of whether we’re speaking to business, social or political subjects. From new industries to climate change to our own companies, we’re desperate to know what the future holds.
What’s the potential? How long do we have? How serious is this?
There’s a difference between rolling the dice and taking a calculated risk. Often we tend to confuse the two.
We avoid taking specific actions in specific areas of our life because we believe “it’s a lottery”, when instead, there are parameters - fundamentals - that we can assess, evaluate, extrapolate to come to a reasonable expectation of an outcome.
So, is that your analysis? Or is that your opinion?
We’ve entered an age when we seem to have conflated the two together. This is most evident in the mainstream media - where you’re either Left or Right, wrong or right, up or down, etc. But it’s not just the mainstream media, it’s as true in so much of our professional and personal lives as well.
This is how we need to be. This is how we need to think. This is how we need to act.
This month's podcasts discusses the idea of happiness. It's such an important ideal and the next few podcasts talk about how we define it, grapple and fight for it, and ultimately, continue to pursue it.
In today's episode, I share two thoughts on happiness. The first is about the path to happiness and that it starts with kindness - to ourselves. The second is what happy people are actually like i.e. they aren't assholes.
Diving into something new can be daunting.
We don’t know ‘the ropes’ - what exactly to do, what constitutes success, whether we have what it takes, or whether we’ll even get “there”. Despite our interest and our passion, we get nervous, especially when the results are in any way public.
I like to think I’m a pretty rational guy. That I consider the pros and cons when making decisions. It’s been drilled into me - through college, business school and then consulting - specifically, the need to be balanced, thoughtful and to consider all aspects before deciding on a path. Nothing controversial or unique about that. I’m sure we all think and behave the same way.
But that rationality belies a reality of making decisions that all of us also grapple with: the role of intuition.
The point of a brand is, in one way or another, to tug on our heartstrings.
It doesn’t matter if it’s a consumer brand, or a B2B brand, the goal is entirely the same: to establish a preference that has, as its basis, criteria well beyond the rational.
One of the hardest things to do in our professional lives is to say no to someone when they ask for our time.
We always want to be helpful, to lend a helping hand whenever we can. If someone wants to show us their latest product, discuss their latest activity or just get together to “network”, we feel compelled to say yes.
I think all too often we tend to overcomplicate our choices. Particularly, when we're trying to decide whether we should do something or not, as it comes to our work.
A new project. A new role. A new job.
