Decision Making is very important in all stages of life since we are going to make decisions everyday. It is a process of choosing an appropriate course of action from several alternative courses. High school students are especially faced with many crucial decision-making situations. This includes choosing subjects for senior years and the HSC, wondering whether they should drop a subject, deciding how to manage their time, and many more!
These decisions often produce unpredictable consequences in the students’ lives and might therefore carry great weight in their minds. So, making the right decision at right time is very important. Here are some guidelines for how to make those tricky decisions throughout high school.
Steps in decision making:
One of the first steps in the decision making process is distinguishing a minor from a major decision: i.e. the decision as to which television program to watch as opposed to the decision over whether or not to attend university. Below are the 7 major steps in the decision-making process:
The first step –is to outline your goal and outcome to identify the decision. This will enable you to see exactly what you are trying to accomplish and keep you on a specific path.
The second step – Gather data. This will give you actual evidence to help come up with a solution.
The third step -is Brainstorm to develop alternatives. Coming up with more than one solution enables you to see which one can actually work.
The fourth step – List pros and cons of each alternative to weigh the decision. With the list of pros and cons, you can eliminate the solutions that have more cons than pros, making your decision easier.
The fifth step -Make the decision from alternatives. Once you analyse each solution, you should pick the one that has many pros (or the pros that are most significant), and is a solution that everyone can agree with.
The sixth step – is to immediately take action. Once the decision is picked, you should implement it right away.
The seventh step – Learn from, and reflect on the decision making. This step allows you to see what you did right and wrong when coming up, and putting the decision to use.
An organized and systematic decision-making process usually leads to better outcomes. However, if you establish strong foundations for decision-making, generate good alternatives, evaluate these alternatives rigorously, and then check your decision-making process, you will improve the quality of your decisions.
So next time you’re wondering whether or not to drop that dreaded Maths Extension 2 class, take care to have evaluated all the possible outcomes as well as think about how your decision might affect your future.
Good luck!
The Team at S4S