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Taking the Right Turn by Dr.
John Maxwell
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Why is it important to consider multiple options during the decision making
process? Here are three reasons:
1. With options come possibilities.
Not long after moving to the Atlanta area, I realized that the drive from my
home to the airport takes 35 minutes - if I leave at 6:30 a.m. If I leave just
15 minutes later, at 6:45 a.m., the same drive takes an hour. And if I wait
until 7 a.m., that same drive takes 80 minutes.
Driving in Atlanta traffic has trained me to become a student of the routes
and time because they help define my options. When I arrive somewhere early,
sometimes I double back and look for new ways to make the same trip. I want to
know my options. That way, when the obvious route slows to a crawl, I know my
options and I often come up with a creative solution.
If we don't have options or if we don't know our options, we're stuck. We have
little choice but to stay in the traffic jam. In decision making, if we do not
have options, we only have one decision. And that decision may be the wrong
decision, or it may not be the best decision.
2. With options come insights.
The more options we have, the more we can see what is not obvious to others.
And people who are successful see what is not obvious to others. They don't
see what others can't see; they just see what others don't seem to see.
Successful people engage that creative part of their minds and ask,
"Well, I wonder how else I can look at this problem? I wonder how else I
could deal with this decision? I wonder what other possibilities I have
there?"
3. With options come options.
Options are a result of thinking early, often and differently. And when we
think early, often and differently, we begin to create more options within our
life. Options come from the disciplines of pursuing options. And very often
they take us down roads we never would have traveled, to places we never would
have seen, where we find new options we never would have considered.
When somebody asks me to make a decision about a situation, I don't offer a
solution, I ask a question: What are our options? Give me the good, give me
the bad, give me the pretty, give me the ugly, give me the impossible, give me
the possible, give me the convenient, give me the inconvenient. Give me the
options. All I want are options. And once I have all the options before me,
then I comfortably and confidently make my decision.
