Decision Making
by
Dennis Gersten, M.D.
If you're like most of us, periodically you face decisions that leave you straddling
the fence. You weigh one choice against another and discover that they seem equally
weighted. We face such dilemmas in our work as well as throughout the rest of our
lives.
Here is a powerful technique developed by Don Crawford, Ph.D., psychologist
and contributing editor to Atlantis, the Imagery Newsletter.
Picture in your mind a scale. This scale is calibrated from 0 to 10. Now imagine
that this scale has a needle or arrow that can point at any number on the scale.
Think of one of the choices you are contemplating. Then allow the needle to settle
wherever IT chooses. If it lands on 10, that means you are 100% in favor of that
choice. If it lands right in the middle on 5, you are 50% in favor of that choice;
and if it ends up on zero, you do not want this choice at all.
This exercise is so simple one may wonder how it can work. The scales directly
access your unconscious mind providing information that your rational mind couldn't
find.
I have seen this tool used successfully for business executives making difficult
corporate decisions. And my teenage daughter has also found it very helpful in
buying presents for her friends. On one occasion she was torn between buying one
present versus another. I asked her to picture the scales. One of the presents
"came in at 9" and the other at 8. She immediately felt comfortable
buying the "9."
The scales are also a great indicator of how you are progressing with a decision
that may require a good deal of research . . . and time. Use the scales. Then
continue with brainstorming, thinking, planning and researching. Re-check the
scales after you have done these other steps and see which direction the arrow on
the scales is moving.
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