In 1837, a 29-year-old Charles Darwin received an academic grant worth nearly $120,000 in 2019 dollars. Prior to that, he had embarked on a very successful exploratory voyage to Africa, Australia, and South America on the HMS Beagle from 1831 – 1836.
Darwin’s findings during the trip placed him at the cutting edge of the geological and biological research of his day. He would later go on to turn the scientific world upside down with his radical theories for which he’s still known today – almost 150 years after his death.
Yet, on this fateful summer afternoon in July 1838, Darwin penned the following words in his journal which reflected the more pressing matters on his heart:
Marry [pros]:
Children — (if it Please God) — Constant companion, (& friend in old age) who will feel interested in one, — object to be beloved & played with. — better than a dog anyhow.– Home, & someone to take care of house — Charms of music & female chit-chat. — These things good for one’s health. — but terrible loss of time. —
Not Marry [cons]:
Freedom to go where one liked — choice of Society & little of it. — Conversation of clever men at clubs — Not forced to visit relatives, & to bend in every trifle. — to have the expense & anxiety of children — perhaps quarelling — Loss of time. — cannot read in the Evenings — fatness & idleness — Anxiety & responsibility — less money for books &c — if many children forced to gain one’s bread. — (But then it is very bad for ones health to work too much)
Six months later, Darwin was married to Emma Wedgewood. Their marriage lasted 43 years and produced 10 children – many of whom went on to lead successful professional lives.
Needless to say, Charles Darwin made the right choice because he got something right.
Clarity! Clarity!! Clarity!!!
Many times, we make poor decisions, not because we are irrational or stupid, but because we lack clarity.
When we lack clarity about our desired preferences and outcomes, we end up making sub-optimal decisions. This is painfully obvious in circumstances where the choices we have to choose from are ambiguous.
As an example, if you are on a diet plan – once you have opportunity costs at the forefront of your mind, it is easy to choose between the calorie-dense chocolate cake and the tuna salad.
On the other hand, what do you do when you need to choose between relocating to another state and staying put where you are? How do you know whether it is time to go back to school, or whether your time is much better spent working your way up the corporate ladder?
That’s where the Quality Decisions Accelerator (QDA) comes in…
The Quality Decisions Accelerator (QDA) is a simple tool I created to bring you much-needed clarity when you need to make rational decisions in situations where the options are ambiguous and the opportunity costs not readily obvious.
I’m going to walk you through the process of using the QDA in six simple steps.
So, here goes…
Step One: Pray Before Using the QDA
I bet you did not see that coming.
If there’s anyone who embodies the perfect representation of rationality, it’s God.
God created us in His Image and Likeness and the only reason we appreciate and strive for rationality is because God placed that ability within us!
Unfortunately, because we live in a deeply humanistic society, we have strived to make God totally irrelevant in our decision making.
Consider what the sage King Solomon had to say about decision making:
‘In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.’
Trying to make rational decisions without so much as a breath of prayer directed to God is like trying to navigate the Amazon forests without a map or a GPS – a total recipe for disaster.
When you pray to God before making decisions, even if it is for 30 seconds, you increase your chances of finding that ever-elusive clarity. More often than not, Step One is the farthest many people reach before God stirs up the answers from within them.
That’s not a bad thing!
Step Two: Be Calm in Your Mind and Emotions
If you find yourself having to make a high-impact decision (like buying a house or relocating to another city) when you are on an emotional rollercoaster, please refrain!
Periods of intense emotional reactivity are inconducive to rational decision making – rendering the QDA useless.
One key obstacle to clarity is a mind that is filled with mental clutter – many of which arise from emotions that are out of whack.
For best results with the QDA, you need to find a way to be calm.
Take a walk or listen to some relaxing music.
Do some meditative breathing.
Retreat to a room where you can have peace and quiet.
Do whatever you need to do to bring your mind and emotions back to a state of balance.
Step Three: Identify 5 – 7 Yardsticks That Will Influence Your Decision
If a person wanted to choose between going back to school for an advanced degree (Option B) and working a regular 9-5 job (Option A), some of the factors that may be considered include income, opportunities for growth, opportunities for networking, derived happiness, and free time for family.
These factors are what I call Yardsticks and they will be typed into the first column from the left on the QDA.
To get accurate results from the QDA, it is essential that you select yardsticks that are important to you.
In the hypothetical situation above, if ‘income’ or ‘free time’ is not a factor that will influence your final choice, it is useless to include them as yardsticks.
Also, while I designed the QDA to have enough space for 10 yardsticks, you do not have to fill up every single gap. However, try to base your decisions on at least 5 – 7 yardsticks for more accurate results.
Step Four: Score Each Yardstick According to Importance
At this point, it should be obvious that not every yardstick will have the same gravity for everybody.
In choosing between going back to school and staying at a corporate job, ‘opportunities for growth’ and ‘derived happiness’ are definitely valid factors that should be considered before making such a high-impact decision.
However, ‘opportunities for growth’ may hold more weight for a fresh-faced graduate, even as ‘derived happiness’ may be valued higher from the perspective of a seasoned veteran.
This is why the subjective value of each yardstick needs to reflect in the QDA. As a result, in the column named Impact of Yardstick, you need to assign scores to each yardstick (on a scale of 1 – 10) to reflect how much they mean to you.
In the hypothetical situation above, money is important to this decision-maker, but not as important as having free time and the Impact of Yardstick reflects that (scores of 5 and 7 respectively).
Step Five: Rate the Yardstick for Each Option and Watch the Magic Unfold
Now it’s time to fill up the Yardstick Ratings for each option.
From the example above, it is obvious that one will make more money being an employee than being a student. Hence, you see ‘income’ having a Yardstick Rating of ‘9’ for Option A (job) as opposed to a meager ‘1’ for Option B (school) for this hypothetical decision-maker.
Other Yardsticks are scored in a similar fashion.
The beautiful thing about the QDA is that it’s coded to automatically make arithmetic computations as you fill it up.
As a result, you see the Total scores as soon as you type your Yardstick Ratings.
Step Six: Make a Decision
If you have followed all the instructions to this point, you’d find that the option with the greatest Total at the bottom of the QDA is your preferred choice.
Based on the hypothetical example, Yardstick Ratings and Impact of Yardstick reveal that the rational choice for this hypothetical decision-maker is to go back to school despite the fact that the job may provide more income.
As a Note of Finality…
I designed the Quality Decisions Accelerator (QDA) to be used as a living tool.
This means that the decisions you make by virtue of using this tool are not cast in stone.
Neither are the Yardsticks or the Yardstick Ratings and Impact of Yardstick numbers.
We all make decisions based on our current level of knowledge, as well as our unique perspectives at a particular point in time.
Since both our knowledge levels and perceptions are capable of evolving in the process of time, do not shy away from revisiting and revising your QDA to reassess your choices and sharpen your clarity.