FINALLY ... Some Final Remarks:

1. The following factors mold your natural decision-making inclinations:

   • training (formal and informal) — Your trained response to the situation will likely receive greater attention than any other response suggested. Formal training includes any formal education you may have received. Informal training includes those beliefs inculcated over the years by your parents, peers, family and neighbors, local mores and religious customs.
   • emotions — You are by nature a gregarious creature: Those outcomes to your decision that may help you win the respect or admiration of others will likely receive greater attention than those that may be perceived as peculiar, unpopular or strange. You are also naturally selfish: What you want or prefer as the outcome to your decision will likely receive greater attention than those alternate outcomes that don't yield anything particularly desirable or conducive toward achieving some selfish gain.
   • experiences — You are likely to perceive those outcomes that you have actually experienced yourself, first-hand, to similar decisions before as more likely to occur than any other alternate outcomes. You will tend to expect those outcomes that you have yourself experienced, while perhaps overlooking some alternate outcome that may actually be more likely to occur due to some extra variable (a third variable, in psychological parlance) or influencing factor unfamiliar to you.
   • perceptions — How you have typically viewed similar situations before will likely determine how you shall view the present situation, even though some alternate paradigm may yield a more fruitful solution.
   Recognizing the flaws inherent to each of these tendencies is the first step toward ascertaining that you make cautious and sound decisions.

2. Some persons (myself included) usually like to summarize large amounts of useful information into more readily memorizable forms for possible later use. In light of this, I have prepared the following mnemonic maxims for those of us who would like to use them to help summarize all the preceding information into something that's more easily memorizable. Which one(s) you choose to memorize is a matter of personal preference.

   1. The 7 Essentials of Professional Decision Making:
      1. Recognize Your Priorities.
      2. Imagine: Brainstorm for Possibilities.
      3. Analyze: Scrutinize the Consequences.
      4. Recognize Rare but Possible Exceptions.
      5. Consult Competent Professional Knowledge.
      6. Stay Informed. Encourage Communication.
      7. Reflect and Introspect.
   2. Imagine Past, Present and Future Possibility: Psychological and Physical.
   3. IMAGINE...
      1. Past Psychological (Honest and Dishonest) and Physical Precedents that may have shaped the Present Situation into what it now is,
      2. Present Possibilities that may actually be Maintaining the Situation as it is now and
         Possibilities that you must Recognize Now if you are to Create a Change,
      3. Future Possibilities - Psychological and Physical - that could result from each possible decision you may make.
   4. Imagine the Possibilities: All Possible Causes... All Possible Consequences. Overlooking any single one could lead to gross negligence.
   5. Plan Ahead. Plan for ALL Possible Consequences Before They Occur.
   6. Remember Safety and Security. Remember Responsibility.
   7. Remember the Scientific Method for testing and validating (or invalidating) personal beliefs.
   8. Be wary of allowing others to influence your decisions.
   9. Never Assume. Always take Exception.
   10. Learn to Repress your Selfish Instincts. Never decide solely to obtain what you want without considering what is Caring, Cautious, Responsible and Righteous ... based on Fact, not on assumption, partiality or belief.
   11. Research your subject. Seek the knowledge of others.
   12. Always check for and strive to eliminate any possibility for error.

3. It is important that you store all your documents, notes and ideas in a safe and secure location. You or someone else may need to refer to them later. We aren't born with crystal balls inside our heads for predicting future events. So, we must always remember to prepare for the unexpected.

4. Quality never comes easy. The preceding steps represent a lot of hard work that cannot possibly be accomplished by any single person in every single situation. In most cases, they represent a formidable job for even a group of dedicated individuals ... over a lengthy period of time.
   
   Nevertheless, where we lack the resources or time to carry everything through, it is still worthwhile to know what other options we may attempt to pursue (when it becomes feasible to do so) in the way of arriving at (and subsequently improving upon) good, sound decisions.

5. Some decisions in recorded human history are worth gloating over. Hopefully, with enough effort and perseverance this decision that you will have made shall become a worthwhile reference for you and others after.

References and Links:

All opinions expressed in this web site, unless otherwise noted, are my own, Michael Gaspard. If you notice any errors or have any suggestions for improvement, please let me know by e-mailing webmaster@mdpme.com. Thank you!

This web page was last updated on Monday, February 2, 2004.
http://www.mdpme.com/decision9.htm

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