" We Choose Our Joys and Sorrows Long Before We Experience Them "

Mirthyunjia was in his early thirties and was working for a multinational in a senior management level, drawing a fat salary with exceptional perks. He was also a work alcoholic. His uncle advised him if he put in same type of hard work in a private business, his income would triple when he would be regarded as a master of the game. Money and power lured him and Mirthyuinjia soon found himself in a hurry to start a new business with almost all his hard earned savings. In less than a year, he found himself miserable and was lamenting that " WE CHOOSE OUR JOYS AND SORROWS LONG BEFORE WE EXPERIENCE THEM "

Mirthyunjia's case becomes a lesson to learn which explicitly advocates the importance of decision making. In any moment of decision making, the best thing you can do is to do the right thing, the next best thing you can do is the wrong thing, the worst thing you can do is nothing. Some persons are very decisive when it comes to avoiding decisions.

' think before you leap ' is the mantra before we decide. The thought process of arriving at a decision can be explained in a novel way so that it could be remembered every time. The method will involve as if of wearing hats of six colours in a particular order viz. white, green, yellow, block, red and blue.

1)The white cap reminds you not to become prejudiced at start. Keep your mind open and clean as white as possible. The first and most important thing will be to " IDENTIFY THE DECISION TO BE MADE ". Next step will be to collect relevant all round information and data.

2) Wear the green cap next. The green reminds you to put in your own new and fresh ideas/plans in addition to data collection. your imagination takes a geometric progression when you sit in a green garden.

3) The action when you wear the yellow cap is to sort out the data/action in the order of priority like doing a " A, B, C " classification - prioritize.

4) Black cap reminds you not to be a black sheep in your actions or thoughts. In other words, care must be bestowed that actions that are to be initiated will no way affect the neighborhood or society at large.

5) Next wear the red cap. Red cautions you to think intuitively and not necessarily by the established protocol only. LIFE IS SUM OF ALL YOUR CHOICES, KINDLY REMEMBER THIS MAXIM AT THIS PHASE OF DECISION MAKING.

6) Blue- the royal blue- the colour of a clear sky - indicative of the Superordinate Goals of the business - wear the blue cap and bring out the ' Mission statement' of your business. Peter Drucker says ' WHERE EVER YOU SEE A SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS, SOME ONE HAS MADE A COURAGEOUS DECISION "

7) WARNING :- " IF YOU CHOOSE TWO RABBITS BOTH WILL ESCAPE "
Let me brief a story to bring home this rule. In an old village ' Vanda Vasi ' by name about 40 miles off Salem, people became afraid in course of time to visit the temple, the only one in that village, as it was in a dilapidated condition. The governing body of the temple took notice of it and attended to do some touch up work in a random fashion and a colour wash to give some appeal to the public. Very soon the villagers identified that the temple was in no way safe and might fall due to its weak structure and stopped entering the temple.

The managing trust held its meeting again to review the situation. They were unanimous in arriving at four major resolutions after deliberating the subject in all respects. (1) First resolution was passed for building a new temple (2) The second resolution was to build the new temple in the same place. (3) The third one favoured to make use of such bricks and other old building material of the existing temple. (4) The fourth resolution they passed was that the old temple should not be destroyed because of age old sentiments and beliefs.

The case study presented above emphasise that " IF YOU CHASE TWO RABBITS AT A TIME, BOTH WILL ESCAPE '

Decision Making in every day's life : -

As we get up in the morning, we think of the day ahead, but we do not really plan what to do or where to start. We may have to go to different banks, do shopping, whether to have break fast or an early lunch or brunch or whom to vote in the election and so on.

In order to decide, one easy way is to list the advantages and disadvantages of each action. Sometime when a situation arises as no way to decide, a coin is tossed or flipped - this is a random way to choose. The first option that becomes clear that may fetch the desired result is another way of making up the mind.

Anxiety or worry associated with the action prompt people to resort to prayers, consult astrologer or other form of divination. We do consult knowledgeable persons or pay for opinion from experts.

Value added concept or expected value of the outcome is often taken up in the process of decision making. For instance, while deciding between two offers of jobs in case of employment, one offer may indicate that there is a 60% chance of getting a 30% raise in salary in the first year while the second job may contain 80% scope for getting a 10% raise in emoluments in the first year. Expected benefit can be arrived by multiplying the two percentages. In the first case it is 60% into 30% = 0.18 ; and in the second the benefit is 80% into 10%= 0.08.
The first job offer is acceptable as per this analysis, the other things remaining the same.

Of course, GOOD DECISIONS COME FROM EXPERIENCE AND EXPERIENCE COME FROM BAD DECISIONS. It also happens that good decisions do not always guarantee good results or the best outcome. IN THE LONG RUN , MEN HIT ONLY WHAT THEY AIM. It can also be said that groping in the dark need to be avoided and instead adopting a calculated risk policy may prove to be beneficial.

Where benefits are not deterministic, decisions are arrived on a tentative basis to enable course corrections. There may be no one right choice and alternate choices may need to be developed preferably by consensus in the process of decision making.

LISTEN TO YOUR INNER VOICE AND TRUST YOUR INTUITION when risks are involved or when we launch new business or when diversification plans are under way.