Have you recently thought, “I’m stuck in a rut, and just cant seem to breakout”. Overall things are going well day to day, having established a routine that is enjoyable. However, you still have a wanting to grow, wanting to build on this foundation and wanting to make what matters to you. Especially as it relates to different roles in your life. You want to take that next step with your significant other as the relationship is stable. At work you want to take on more responsibilities since have mastered much of the day to day operations. You consider making new purchases, maybe a car, or home. Either way you are ready to make some changes, but every time you try you just can’t seem to break through.
Anytime you encounter complexity of making a change you begin to struggle. The increasing difficulty result in mistakes with novel, complex decisions. Having had success before, the tendency is to try to use the same ways to attain this new outcomes. But it is a lot more work, and you just can’t do so many decisions. You got to this level of success by hard work. However the harder you work, you still feel “Stuck”, frustrated by complexity of new decisions. When experiencing adversity or set back, tends to disengage and quit from fatigue and dissatisfaction.
- Unable to complete Complex decisions, but can complete habitual ones
- Quality of life is less than desired, less than aspirations.
- Goal Achievement is limited with the higher aspirations
- Stress Levels tends to fluctuating frustration and anxiety
- Productivity limited to many habitual tasks
- Safety and Risk impacted as complexity is threatening
- Overall Life Satisfaction less than desired, justifies its OK
Summary of Current State and Needs
This decision maker is capable of completing everyday well known tasks, however struggles with novel and more complex projects. Although not limited by cognitive abilities, they struggle to develop new skills and grow in the complexity of projects. When experiencing the adversity of a struggling moment, the tendency is to try to get through it quickly by using the approaches that worked before. This exacerbates the difficulty in Up-regulation to the deliberate system by causing anxiety, unable to find orientation in the unfamiliar. Even when presented with instructions for the new outcome, they find its difficult to learn, often trying to compare what they have done in the past with what they are learning now.
The consequence is a tendency to quit when things are getting more complex and a reversion to what is familiar. Initially motivated to try to grow through learning and challenging new projects, the ineffectiveness requires a lot of energy prompting the ACC to down-regulate back to old habits and patterns due to uncertainty about the likelihood of a successful outcome. This results in many half completed projects or many unopened boxes of the next big thing to try and accomplish. Overall this leads to frustration which further impairs the ability to sustain an up-regulation during a struggling moment. Without a structured program to provide guidance they are likely to continue the same habits and inconsistent decision making.
Goal of Learning Deliberate Decision Making
Goals of learning to make better decision include:
- Minimize the time that it takes to learn how to make faster habitual decisions
- Minimize the time it takes to make more complex decisions
- Minimize the errors in decision making for more accurate decisions in complex decisions
- Minimize the complexity of decision making to reduce cognitive stress
- Minimize the time that it takes to make more than one decision
- Minimize the time it takes to complete the Learning and Performance Plan
- Minimize the emotional strain of decision making through knowledge of what is happening
- Minimize the time it takes to achieve daily goals to provide more time for complex learning
- Minimize the time that it takes to improve productivity through decision making
- Minimize the feelings of frustration by learning about Up-regulation
- Minimize the cost of improving overall life satisfaction in terms of time and resources
- Minimize the time it takes to provide structure to the increasingly complex decision making process
Learning and Performance Plan
The Deliberate Decision Making curriculum guides the intermediate decision maker to build on daily decision making and learn to take advantage of a struggling moment and make a change with the deliberate system:
- Understand the connection between need fulfillment and decision making and Struggling Moments
- Recognize the two types of decisions – Habitual and Catalyst
- Understand the opportunity of the Struggling Moment
- Initiate and manage Up-Regulation
- Utilize the The Deliberate Pathway Steps
- Manage the causes of Down-regulation
- React to the Behaviors of the Automatic System
Tools and Resources To Learn Faster
Our proprietary decision making tools not only support making decisions now, but also support learning the best way to support the inherent decision making systems, resulting in ongoing improvement in decision making over time.
- Understand how to the use the Weekly Needs Assessment
- Understand how to the use the Struggling Moment Worksheet
- Understand the use of QuickSteps and when to use it
- Understand the DIY DDM and when to use it
- Understand the purpose of the 20 Minute Decision
- Understand the benefits of the Group Mentoring for DDM Pathway
- Understand the impact of the conceptual framework on selecting the best measurements and metrics to evaluate progress
Continue to explore the website and Your Personal Account to learn more about the following Deliberate Decision Making offerings:
- Review Free Member Learning
- Review 1st, 2nd, 3rd , 4th presentations
- Review Weekly Needs Assessment
- Review Struggling Moment Worksheet
- Read Advanced Articles and Examples of Decision Making
- Courses – From Daily Decider to Specific Performance
- Making Better Decisions – A 90 Minute Useful eBook
- DIY DDM – Course and Online Tool
- Core DDM and Workbook
- Age Related Learning and Workbook
- Consulting
- 20 Minute Decision for Big Decision that are time sensitive
- Group Mentoring of DDM Pathway