How to make the right choice: four techniques that will move any business off the ground

If you do not know how to make the right choice, do not rush to buy a prediction ball or toss a coin. You're not a literary hero, are you? You are a serious person. So take seven breaths, ask yourself four questions, burn the ships and drop anchor. No, this is not a panic attack. These are the oldest methods of self-organization from samurai, emperors and commanders. They discipline, clarify, soothe and help make the best decisions possible.

How to make the right choice:

Breathe like a samurai

Many "self-improvement" books cite Yamamoto Tsunetomo's Hagakure. The Book of the Samurai, or, to be more precise, one of the techniques that is mentioned there. It was used by the samurai of Japan when the need to make a decision without delay was brewing. The book dates from 1716.

The essence of the method is to make a decision or refuse it while you take seven breaths. The samurai believed that if determination did not appear during this period of time or doubts did not pass, then the time had not yet come for action. So if you have doubts, switch to other tasks.

How to make the right choice:

Ask how Descartes

Rene Descartes excelled in many areas. You can read about his vigorous activity in the field of mathematics, physics, metaphysics, mechanics and epistemology on Wikipedia. We are only interested in a drop from the ocean of ideas and strategies of this historical figure. Namely, a win-win way to find the best solutions. It lies in the ability to ask yourself the right questions.

Once we already wrote about how to ask yourself questions correctly. If this method does not suit you, do not complicate it, use Descartes' square.

What is a square

Any situation can be driven into the framework of the square and considered there. So it becomes simpler and, accordingly, more understandable. To understand what's what, ask yourself four questions:

• What happens if everything works out? This is about the pros and the best outcome of events. What will you get out of it, roughly speaking.
• What happens if the plan fails? It's not about cons. Here you are looking at the situation from the point of view that everything will remain unchanged. And do not consider the negative sides, but look for the pluses. Yes Yes. What good is it that an event did not occur or a decision was not made?
• What happens if everything goes as planned? This is about the cons.
• What will you miss if you fail? It is also about negative consequences.

So, everything is simple. Model for yourself a situation in which both in case of victory and in case of defeat there are positive aspects. Then from the opposite: what disadvantages await you if everything works out or it doesn't work out. This is what the square is. It contains all the extreme points of pluses and minuses.

The Descartes square allows you to climb the mountain of your thought processes and see the whole picture.

Let's look at an example. Let's say you are going to take the company to the international market.

About the pros

• What will happen if successful? Income will increase, the brand will grow, the company's status in the domestic market will also be higher.
• In case you do not pull such a goal? After exhaling seven times, you will be able to focus the company's resources on current projects, as well as once again review your position in the domestic market. Perhaps you are fine here.

About cons

• Did everything work out for you? Yes. But now everything is scheduled by the minute. In addition, all resources are directed to maintaining the new status, probably translating product catalogs into English, but this is not the main thing, because now you need to expand the staff so as not to fall back to where you just "came from."
• If you didn't succeed. There is one minus, but it is quite fat. The domestic market can become your ceiling. And this means stopping the growth and development of the company.

Thus, you can weigh all the pros and cons. Then the “breath of the samurai"… how do you like this approach to decision-making?

Wait. That's not all. Now we're sinking ships…

How to make the right choice:

Cut off escape routes

The civil defense has a song about this “Nothing to Lose”, but in fact, not only Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin used the “not a step back” strategy during the war. This method is much older. In the third century BC in China, Xiang Yu set fire to the ships of his fleet while the soldiers slept. And he did it on the eve of the main battle. The Spanish conquistador Cortes also realized that an angry army was much more effective in battle and repeated this technique in the sixteenth century.

It's a crazy strategy. But who said that business is a golf course? In addition, you should not take everything literally in the XXI century.

Cut off your escape routes when you begin to notice a desire to sit on two chairs, do everything at once and please everyone. This is not only detrimental to your business or company, or the freelancer's personal earnings. “The shooter has ripened everywhere” is about those who burn out quickly at work, and recover for a long time.

You don't have to burn down the office or do something as selfless as the generals of different times. Moreover, your army (team) is unlikely to appreciate. But you can use civilized "burning ships" methods.

And we also wrote about this, by the way. In the article on public promises, for example, you can read in detail how to achieve a goal and stay whole.

In the 21st century, your worst enemy is yourself, but you are also your own best friend. If you indulge in procrastination or avoid responsibility, you are losing your inner battle.

When you make a public pledge, no one present will see your inner fleet burning, but you will feel the heat of the fire of your determination. And then there will be nowhere to retreat. But it will be – where to grow.

This is where new anchors come in handy.

How to make the right choice:

Before dropping anchor, watch where you drop

So that growth and success do not knock the ground out from under your feet and you do not fly beyond the limits of physical and psycho-emotional realities, learn to “cling” correctly.

Determine in advance in your environment "checkpoints" where you can take a breath. As well as the points by which you will navigate and create your course. As a captain of a ship, you must be able to manage this large vessel – your new project, or a new global goal of life. But this requires knowledge.

Therefore, before burning ships, learn how to build or where to buy new ones. It is likely that the return home with victory will be faster and easier if you choose air routes. Take this metaphor as the first anchor. It is needed to moor to the shore, where your first battle will be – a promise to yourself to achieve the goal by all means. Don't back down and don't be dumb.

Good luck! Take care of yourself.