3 Simple Systems To Make Decisions Efficiently

in #life6 years ago

Oh my, what a fancy, copywrite friendly title! You are not used to it, are you? I like to throw in some more serious, but informative content once in while. I am a stream-of-thought kind of writer, at least on Steemit, and that means my work is all over the place.

Anyway, what am I talking about? Nowdays everyone is obsessed with systems and different models of thinking. Per usual, most of the people reading this stuff, don't really need them. Paul, working double-shifts at the mall, doesn't need to re-arrange his thought patterns to a 2x2 matrix.

Ok ok, Paulie can do whatever the fuck he wants. I am just saying, most people need a simple, universally applicable decision making system, before they move on to the more complex stuff. And this is what I am going to deliver today!

pexels-photo-583846.jpeg

1. "Should I do it or not?" - The 2-Minute Rule

It is a very simple system, yet it will be the one you'll use a lot and it'll certainly have a tangible impact in your day-to-day life, especially if you are somewhat indecisive to begin with.

It goes like this:

If something takes less that 2 minutes to do, just do it without thinking about it.

It sounds like common sense, right? And it's exactly that! You don't want to occupy your mind with meaningless dilemas, like:

"Should I throw the garbage?"
"Should I change the sheets"
"Should I respond to that email?"

If it takes <2 minutes, you just suck it up and do it. For the people who overthink everything, this one may give them a profound sense of freedom. They don't have to obsess for every little decision. They automate a bunch of them and they can go on with their lives.

The only difficulty here is actually sticking with it enough, so it becomes a habit.

2. "Is this the right thing for me to do?" - Redbeard's Meta Decision

Yeah, I baptized it after me. I am THAT guy.

Anyway, compared to #1, this one is a feeling-based decision, meaning we don't take in account tangible measurments to arrive to the decisions.

It goes like this:

If you feel better after doing it, do it. If you feel worse after doing it, don't do it

Again, this is bullet proof and you can apply it everywhere.

"Should I eat that?"
"Should I go out with him/her?"
"Should I watch porn?"

So, if we take the latter as an example. You may feel good the time you're doing it, but most people actually feel void and bad after jerking off to porn. See?

And it goes the same way with positive things. You are bored and exhausted before you work out. But after you do, you feel exhilarated!

3. "Buy or Nah?" - How Much Does Your Time Worth?


pexels-photo-870902.jpeg

See how we've progressed in the complexity of the systems? We started with the basic one, that is already easy for most people to do. Then we moved on to more difficult decisions that require a value structure of some sort. Lastly, we will examine a system that involves fiscal variables.

It requires some math, so get your pen out!

First of all, let's see how much your time is worth!

Value of Your Time = Annual Income / Working Hours

Pretty straightforward, huh?

Let's take someone who works 40 hours per week and earns 30k dollars per year. His hour is valued at about 14$.

So now I want you to tell me: Was it worth waiting 30 minutes in line for a free donut? No, because the value of the free donut (let's say $3 ) is less than the value of your time!

Now you know why rich people hate to waste time and hire cooks and what not. You also know why shit like the Black Friday is total bullshit, playing on the psychology of the masses.

(Note: I am a cheeky bastard. I intentionally used the $14 dollars, because it is the minimum wage in USA :)

Of course, that doesn't mean to be penny wise and pound foolish. I am not suggesting you don't drink coffee because you may wait more that 10 minutes! That cup of coffee is low a risk/high reward purchase and thepotential ROI is greater than the expense.

This rule helps you realize how much your time worths, so you don't spend it unwisely. That impulse buy of $20 doesn't compare to the 3 hours you've been stressing about it (3x15=45 vs 20). That innocent cup of coffee that your highschool "friend" will treat you, because she wants to pitch you her new MLM scheme, isn't worthy of your time.

See my point?

Once you increase your income, you should also consider delegating and outsourcing the minute stuff. Instead of waiting in line to pay your electrical bill, you could be working towards making more money. Delegate!

That's it!

As I mentioned, there are many models of thinking that are increasingly more complex, but believe me, most of the times they are designed for individuals who lack the qualities of an interesting human being, if you know what I mean...

And as always, don't take everything too seriously. You are allowed to make mistakes and diverge from the structure. Life is a high risk/high reward endeavour.

-Thatredbeardguy

P.S- If you liked this post, SMASH THE... I can't. This is so cheesy holy fuck. Look, we are all adults here. Upvote this or I will find you, hunt you down and kill you with my bare hands. GABISH?


giphy.gif

More of my stuff:

Sort:  

Very nice and usefull article! I like it! Thank you!

You're welcome.

All of these are very good systems for normal people.

Unfortunately, i have never been able to do #3.
What is my time worth? I do not know.
If i would do some of the ideas bouncing around in my mind, more than $1,000,000 an hour. But, i really don't have any desire for that fiat currency.

My latest project is working out to be -$3 per hour.
So, using negative three... that free donut is looking really good at only 1 hour of time.

But, this week i made a lot of old women happy fixing shit.

Haha, well if your time is -3$ you can't have that free donut. It costs nothing and you have less than that!

A title like that is usually a sure way for me to skip the article, but I read it because I thought there might be some cheeky stuff, and there was, a little. I don't think I do anything with the information you provided, all common sense things in my opinion. I like your other stuff more, this copywriter shit is already everywhere.

I know, you like the nasty stuff, but hey a man's gotta eat...

I should flag this post to discourage you from writing this boring generic stuff.

You would flag me, so you could low-key force me to stalk and harass you huh?

Damn, you caught me!

I see what you did there 😁!

I don't! What did I do there?

I may tell you. Some other time.

Resteemed by @resteembot! Good Luck!
Check @resteembot's introduction post or the other great posts I already resteemed.

Coin Marketplace

STEEM 0.29
TRX 0.12
JST 0.032
BTC 63330.76
ETH 3090.95
USDT 1.00
SBD 3.80