Teen Choices (eBook)

How to Make Better Decisions

Larry Shirer (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2022 | 1. Auflage
226 Seiten
Bookbaby (Verlag)
978-1-6678-2513-7 (ISBN)

The teen years are tough! They are the time when youth are formed as persons. Young people are forced to deal with many choices. Some are difficult and have long-term implications. This book helps teens think about decision making, identify useful life values and principles, develop practical, relevant skills and prepare themselves for making effective choices. It encourages them to focus on what really matters, to establish priorities, and act on those priorities. This book encourages young people to think about decision making and helps them: understand and appreciate what a significant role decision making plays in their lives. develop an effective process for improving the quality of their decisions. think through and select the assumptions and context within which they make decisions. understand some of the relevant concerns and considerations that impact the quality of their choices. Identify and effectively deal with some life-shaping decisions. appreciate how making better decisions can improve the quality of their lives. make better decisions!

TEEN CHOICES

HOW TO MAKE BETTER DECISIONS

PART I

THINKING ABOUT DECISION MAKING

The teen years are tough! They are the time when youth are formed as persons. Young people are forced to deal with many choices. Some are difficult and have long term implications. Thinking about decision making, developing relevant skills and preparing yourself for making effective choices can help improve the results of your decisions.

A. PURPOSE

The purpose of this book is to encourage you to think about decision making and to help you:

• understand and appreciate what a significant role decision making plays in your life.

• develop an effective process for improving the quality of your decisions.

• think through and select the assumptions and context within which you make decisions.

• understand some of the relevant concerns and considerations that impact the quality of choices.

• Identify and effectively deal with some life shaping decisions.

• appreciate how making better decisions can improve the quality of your life.

• make better decisions!

B. THE IMPORTANCE AND SCOPE OF DECISION MAKING

Choices matter! Individual decisions, the choices we make, literally determine the course and quality of our lives. Who we are, what we do, our mental and emotional state, who and what we will become, all depend largely upon the decisions we make. Our happiness, success, health, achievements, morality and the extent to which our lives have meaning are determined primarily by the quality of our decisions. Aristotle, a respected Greek philosopher, observed long ago that “we become what we are as persons by the decisions that we make.” That truth hasn’t changed. The quality of our lives is determined by the decisions we make.

We make lots of decisions. The only thing we do more than make decisions is breathe. We make hundreds of decisions every day. Many are not earth shaking – what should I wear today? Which cereal should I have for breakfast? Some are life-changing - What career should I pursue? Should I go into debt to attend college? Is she/he the right spouse for me? Should I “try” addictive substances? Unfortunately, other than perhaps “fretting” a little more, we often approach important decisions much like we do minor decisions.

Decisions drive everything. Decisions determine whether our nation goes to war and sends our young people off to fight and die. Decisions determine whether our economy grows or stagnates. Decisions determine whether our planet can continue to support life as we know it. Our fate is determined by our personal decisions, by the decisions of elected officials, bureaucrats, corporate executives and others in positions of influence. The choices we make when we vote at the ballot box and when we express our opinions, with our voices, with our feet and with our spending money, all matter. The future of our economy, our country, and our planet will be determined by the quality of individual and collective human decisions.

We have access to huge amounts of information and many options. We are required to choose: values, goals and objectives, careers, where to reside, a spouse, (or not to have one), a worldview, what personal philosophy and religion to embrace, (or to embrace none), how to relate to people, and more. We are bombarded with the need to make choices. How well we cope depends on how clearly we think.

Occasionally factors and events beyond our control significantly impact our lives. Things happen to us. But, to a much greater extent than we often admit, we mold our lives and control our future through the decisions we make. Other people make decisions that affect us, but we can always choose our response, and thus determine what happens next.

Although decision making is among the most frequent things we do and certainly among the most important things we do, we are not typically taught how to do it, nor do most of us consciously make an effort to learn to do it. We are presumably supposed to learn decision making by observation or through experience. Observing the results of others’ decisions can be helpful, but observation, by itself, does not work well for learning to make decisions. And while experience, “the school of hard knocks”, can provide useful lessons, as the sole method of learning it is very inefficient and often painful.

Important decisions, those that have significant ramifications for us and for others, warrant focused time and effort. Decision making is a critical life skill. Fortunately, it’s a skill that can be learned and improved. We can learn to be better decision makers. Like learning to drive a car, it can be awkward at first, but we get more proficient with practice. To make better decisions, one has to want to learn and to grow in proficiency.

Not all decisions are of equal importance. Some influence our lives more than others. Decisions made today may impact our lives for years down the road. Choosing the wrong vacation may have minimal impact in the long run. Choosing the wrong vocation can make one’s life miserable. Evaluating the importance of decisions is critical.

There are a few fundamental decisions that shape our lives. In this text, we will discuss seven:

• Who do I choose to be?

• How do I choose to see the world?

• How shall I live my life?

• What will I exclude from my life?

• How will I relate to other people?

• How will I contribute to humankind?

• What’s it all about?

By design or default we all make these choices. There are no answers to these questions that are “right” for everyone, but there are principles and values that make some choices more effective than others.

Not all decisions are of a “yes or no”, “black or white” type. Most important decisions involve shades of gray. Most must be made with less than all the information that could be relevant. Many must be made under time and/or other pressures. Some involve tradeoffs between conflicting objectives and rules. In spite of all these obstacles, learning to make the best choices possible, with the information and time available, is possible, and can be very rewarding.

Making wise decisions involves asking oneself a lot of fundamental questions, and honestly attempting to seek truthful and useful answers to those questions.

We can learn to make better decisions by: becoming more aware of their impact on our lives, taking responsibility for our decisions, consciously committing to improving them, developing a truthful and realistic understanding of the world within which we make decisions and employing an effective decision making process.

While the purpose of decision making is usually to produce positive results, outcomes are often uncertain. Even with the careful application of the best process, there is no guarantee that the results of a given decision will be positive. Good decisions can have negative consequences and poor decisions, by chance or luck, can be followed by great results. An evaluation of whether a decision was “good” or “bad” should relate, not just to the results, but to how the choice was made. Following an effective process will, in the long run, produce better results than knee jerk reactions and hap-hazard approaches.

Understand that no one makes only good decisions. Our objective should be, not to make “perfect” decisions every time, but to make “better” decisions more often, to increase the odds that the consequences will be positive. Following a systematic, logical process and consciously attempting to think rationally can help significantly.

An effective process + wisdom = better decisions. Better decisions = a better quality of life.

Important decisions can be tough and the consequences serious. Most of our more serious life problems are the result of poor decisions. Our prisons are full of people who made poor choices.

Many of our poor decisions are the result of not understanding how to make effective decisions. The quality of our decisions is determined not only by what we decide, but to a great extent by how we decide. The process is important. Using an effective process will not make tough decisions easy, but it will provide the assurance that we have given the issue our best effort and will increase the probability of a successful outcome.

Identify the key elements of the issue, gather relevant information, apply rigorous analysis and make the decision. The following is an outline of a systematic approach to improving decision making. Each of these elements will be described further in the remainder of the text.

1. FRAME THE ISSUE

2. IDENTIFY THE INFORMATION NEEDED TO MAKE A GOOD DECISION

3. IDENTIFY VIABLE OPTIONS/ALTERNATIVES

4. CONSIDER THE LIKELY CONSEQUENSES/RESULTS

5. CONSIDER THE IMPACT ON OTHERS

6. TEST THE ALTERNATIVES AGAINST...

Erscheint lt. Verlag	3.1.2022
Sprache	englisch
Themenwelt	Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Beruf / Finanzen / Recht / Wirtschaft
ISBN-10	1-6678-2513-5 / 1667825135
ISBN-13	978-1-6678-2513-7 / 9781667825137

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