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| Volume 5, Issue 10 - October, 2006 • How to Decide Not to Decide This was our first vacation away in over a year as last year has been devoted solely to working on our home. It was exciting and we were more than eager for a break from the routine of our daily lives. We visited Asheville, Waynesville, Black Mountain, Blowing Rock, Boone and other communities. We visited developments with lot prices starting at $400,000 and we looked at existing fixer-uppers. We even sat down and talked with a rental property management company. In a way, it was frustrating and discouraging. It was frustrating because we really didn’t find anything that we could afford or that met our needs. It was also frustrating because there are so many other boomers doing the same thing that prices near the desirable communities are skyrocketing and yet properties just a few miles down the road look like you are walking on to the set of the movie Deliverance. Zoning doesn’t exist in this part of the country. As the week progressed, I became discouraged because I didn’t feel like we were accomplishing anything and there was something inside of me that just didn’t feel right. Finally, it dawned on me that I was trying to force a decision that I shouldn’t be making. Right now our focus needs to be on restoring the home we bought last year. Our search for a vacation rental was a distraction. It would take time, money and focus away from our primary objective of restoring our property to its optimum potential. Our vacation should have been less investigation and more R&R. Don’t get me wrong, we enjoyed ourselves and getting away was great, but some of the time we invested in the hunting endeavor could have been better spent. Fortunately, we didn’t make a decision and we learned some valuable lessons that I would like to share with you.
Our journey to a decision stopped at step #6 only because I didn’t realize what was going on. If I had used this process at the time, I am certain that we would have decided not to decide earlier in the process. Getting away was great. Seeing and exploring in the mountains is always enjoyable, but little did I know that I would learn something that would end up as an article. Prior to undertaking my study of decision-making, I never would have recognized what was going on in the back of my mind. My conclusion probably would have been the same, but I never really would have understood why. Fortunately, now I recognize and am able to reduce those previously invisible thoughts to writing. I hope you will consider this process as a way to save time and frustration in your life.
If you have a subject that you would like to see covered in future issues of “Taking Aim,” please send me an email at aim@CannonAdvantage.com.
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Robert E. Cannon "Best Practice" Sales Force Development Change Management Customer Service Assessment for ISO Requirements Smart Thoughts from Smart People Flaming enthusiasm, backed by horse sense and persistence, is the quality that most frequently makes for success. Dale Carnegie The best thing about the future is that it comes one day at a time. Abraham Lincoln Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome. Booker T. Washington Three grand essentials to happiness are something to do, something to love and something to hope for. Jose Addison Taking Aim © 2006 Bob Cannon, The Cannon Advantage Newsletter. All Rights Reserved. The Cannon Advantage visual branding by Zarney Creative. For contact information, click “Resources.” |
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