Good or Bad Idea? How To Make A Decision!

“Making better choices takes work. There’s a daily give and take, but it’s worth it.”

— Tom Rath

The Problem: choice

Let’s face it. We are all faced with conflicts and dilemmas, and it can be hard to decide what to do. Should I leave my job, or not? Should I ask that person I like out, or not? Should I apply for that course, or not?

Faced with these dilemmas, it’s normal to feel the stress and anxiety of our own conflict. In an attempt to avoid this distress, we often find ourselves avoiding the decision altogether - we procrastinate. This avoidance can reduce our stress, at least in the short-term, but it does not alleviate it - we continue to feel a low-level stress, knowing the decision has yet to be made.

The Solution: A Cost-Benefit Analysis

So, how can we move towards a decision when we get stuck? Well, it can be helpful to have a clear method of figuring out what we think might be best, or at least, having a method that helps us look clearly into all the pros and cons of our options. One way of doing this is to complete what’s called a cost-benefit analysis.

What is a Cost-BENEFIT Analysis?

A cost-benefit analysis is a way of exploring a decision in full-detail, looking at all the pros and cons of each choice. In this way we can gain a clear understanding of what each possibility implies. A cost-benefit analysis does not only help us see the pros and cons, but can also help reduce the anxiety and tension of avoiding the conflict, as it helps us face the decision in a more structured way.

How to complete a Cost-Benefit Analysis

So, let’s look at how we do a cost-benefit analysis.

Step One: Clarify the Conflict

The first thing we need to do is write, as clearly and concisely as possible, what the decision or conflict is. For example, it might be: “leave my relationship or not”, or, “leave my job or not”, or, “applying for this course, or not”. We are looking for a clear description of what the choice actually is. Once we have that, we can move to Step Two.

Step Two: Analysis The Pros and Cons

The following four approaches can be done in any order. Draw four panels on a page (see image), and continue:

• The Pros of “Yes”: Identify all the positives you can about saying “yes” to your choice. For example, in the choice “Should I leave my job, or not”, we look at all the positives about leaving my job. Make sure to look at both the short-term, and long-term, positives/benefits.

• The Cons of “Yes”: Next, identify and write down all the negatives or cons of “yes”. In this example, I identify all the downsides of leaving my job, both in the short-term and long-term.

• The Pros of “No”: Now we identify all the positives of choosing “No”. Here, we write down all the positives of not leaving my job, of staying, including all the short-term and long-term benefits.

• The Cons of “No”: Finally, we identify and write down all the cons of saying “no” to our choice, making sure to note all the short-term and long-term downsides, in this case, to staying in my job.

Step Three: Weighting the Items

For many, just the process above helps clarify what the best choice is for the person, but, often, we might still be conflicted about what we should do, even after completing the above.

If we are still struggling with making the decision, you can “weight” each of the pros and cons above. We do this by giving each pro and each con a rating between zero and ten on how important we think that is. So, for example, I might have written down “my boss might be angry” in the cons of “yes”, but, when I rate this item, I only give it a 2 out of 10, because I don’t really value that as a reason to stay - if my boss is angry about me leaving, that doesn’t really make them a good boss. On the other hand, I might rate “I can’t follow my dreams” a 10 in the cons of “no”, because that’s one of my highest values.

At the end of weighting I can re-write the top 4 or 5 most heavily-weighted items, and see what I notice, and this might help me decide. In my example, these are:

• My Colleagues are awesome. I can be around them if I stay. (Though, when I reflect I realise I can still be around my colleagues outside work if I want!)

• I can be more me and follow my dreams, if I leave.

• I’ll have more free time, if I leave

• I’ll have less time to follow my passions, like writing, if I stay

Conclusion

This is the essence of a cost-benefit analysis. To be clear, it might not help you make a decision straight away, but it will help you get more clarity on what your conflict is, and, you can continue to come back to it over a few days or weeks, until you feel more comfortable committing to “yes” or “no”. Give it a try, and let us know in the comments below what it was like. Did it help? What did you decide?

Thanks For Reading!

Did you try out this tool? If so, let me know how it went in the comments below.

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