Before we explore this idea, let’s establish that making choices without due diligence is the equivalent of a coin toss.  Most of us wouldn’t accept a service provider giving us a recommendation based on nothing more than a coin toss.  However, when life presents us with the stress of competing priorities, we find ourselves putting minimal time, energy, and effort into making our personal choices.

We deserve better than a coin toss; we owe it to ourselves and our loved ones to apply an appropriate amount of diligence to the decisions that matter most.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not suggesting we need a formal decision-making process or a decision matrix for every choice in our personal lives.  But we do need to make sure we have evaluated all our options and the choice we’re making is aligned with our life goals.  For example, if your goal is to lose weight, you wouldn’t randomly pick a meal because there is a risk that a random meal would provide an excess of calories.  Instead, you would make an informed choice and select a low-calorie meal.

Like business decisions that are aligned with business goals, our personal choices should be aligned with our personal goals.  If, for example, we have a savings goal, then we would filter our spending through the needs, wants, and desires process before making a purchase.

With the exception of random luck, it’s impossible to achieve our personal goals without making personal choices that are aligned with those goals.

There are several areas of our personal lives that have a compounding effect on all dimensions of our lives and, therefore, warrant a significant amount of consideration before making a choice.

The Big-Four Personal Decision Domains

These domains must be mastered because their compounding effects have such a significant impact on the other facets of your life.

1. Residence.  The cost associated with where we live is the single most expensive thing we spend money on.  In addition, there are second and third-order effects associated with where you live, whether you rent or buy, and how much you spend that can have a lasting impact on so many other facets of your life.  Where you live can impact where you work, where your kids go to school, and so many other elements of your life.
2. Transportation.  Over the past several years, the total cost of vehicle ownership has increased to the point that we need to seriously consider if or what type of vehicle we should own.  At one point in my life, I was considering buying one of two vehicles.  I did the math on the fuel mileage difference between the two options and noticed that the difference in fuel mileage between the two options was worth two months of car payments.  I quickly chose the model with the better fuel mileage.
3. Education.  Education, college, technical, or self-taught, will play a role in a person achieving their personal and professional goals.  I met a gentleman who took a couple of software engineering classes at the local community college.  That and a couple of years of passion and drive led him to Department of the Army-level recognition for an algorithm that nobody else had ever considered.
4. Habits and Hobbies. Our habits and hobbies may at times feel inconsequential, but over time, they can have a real and lasting impact on our lives.  For example, smoking can lead to cancer, whereas running can contribute to being physically fitter.

It’s been my experience that making personal choices and decisions is more of a balancing act than a formal decision-making process.  For example, where I worked wasn’t near the school I wanted the kids to attend, or necessarily close to our family’s choice of recreational activities.  That said, trying to find a home that checked all the boxes was never easy; it was always a balancing act.  Prioritizing my goals allowed me to more effectively balance life’s competing priorities.

In my opinion, one of the last and most important elements of personal decision-making is bouncing your thoughts and ideas off a trusted mentor.  It could be a parent, friend, boss, etc. The idea is to find someone who has demonstrated success in an area you’re considering and get their perspective on things.  Because experience is priceless and helps us become aware of elements we have not considered.  Because, as Mark Twain is often credited with saying, “It isn’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble.  It’s what you know for sure that just isn’t so.”

In case you missed it, you can read article 1 in this series, “How to Make Better Decisions: The Critical Thinking Framework That Actually Works,” or if you’re a leader navigating high-pressure decisions, be sure to read “Leadership Decision-Making Under Pressure: The 6-Step Framework Used by Military Leaders.”  

1. 2.0 _____: Do you have a decision-making process that works for you personally? Having a process that suits you helps you make decisions faster and with more confidence.
2. 2.0 _____: Does the organization you lead or work for have a decision-making process? Ideally, the organization adopts a decision-making process that connects with employees so that everyone is on the same page when making decisions.

1. 
   _____: Assessment Grade

RuReady Resources:

1. Eric’s 6-Ds Quick Reference Guide. A streamlined framework from RuReady designed to work in both structured and fast-moving situations.

Amazon Books:

1. The Military Decision Making Process (MDMP) for Civilian Business Leaders, by Griffin Gorge Associates. This is a clear, practical guide that brilliantly adapts proven military planning strategies to the business world.  Griffin Gorge Associates delivers actionable insights that inspire confident, strategic decision-making in any organization.