Don’t Let A Limited Viewpoint Hamper Your Success
We can achieve better outcomes in every aspect of our lives, if we strategically include our family members, friends, and acquaintances in our decision making.
Independent Decision Making (Going it alone)
Whenever we make a decision concerning work, business, or personal matters, we are guessing. We hope that the action we plan to take will lead to the outcome we seek. Why are we hoping? No one can control all of the factors involved in a given endeavor. The best action an individual can take is to increase their understanding of the people, places, things, events, and concepts involved. Doing so, helps the individual discover the factors within his control, the factors outside of his control, and the key activities likely to yield the intended result. (The factors that lay outside of one’s control are usually referred to as luck – providence, randomness, or all things unexplained.)
As we make decisions and assess the results, we establish a track record of success. That is, we confirm how poor, fair, good, or excellent we are at guessing.
Wisdom of Your Crowd
Should it turn out that we are not good guessers in a given area of our life, we do not have to give up. We can increase our odds of successfully guessing by substituting our guesses with the combined guesses of the people around us. These are people who possess some level of knowledgeable about the situation, people, and/or processes involved. That is, the collective judgement of your crowd (family, friends, coworkers, business partners, therapist, and cleric) can provide you with additional insights you (a single individual) may have missed. For a proven bad guesser, almost any guess is better than a bad guess. The situation could only improve. (There is a 50/50 chance the situation will remain in a failed state or improve.)
The Luck of The Venture
Even if a person is a good decision maker (i.e., a good guesser), their guessing does not account for the likelihood of success linked to the venture itself. Every venture has its own probability of success. Consider for example, choosing between the career path of a Typist vs a Nurse practitioner. According to the U.S. Department of Labor Statistics, the occupation of Typist is projected to decline by 38.6% over the next 10 years while the demand for Nurse Practitioners is expected to increase by 45% over the same time period. Although an excellent guesser may find a job as a typist, s/he is much more likely to find a job as a nurse practitioner. In the latter case, the odds of success are in the job seeker’s favor.
Recommendation
Taking all of these factors into account, a person with an inner circle composed of knowledgeable and observant family members, friends, and colleagues are likely to achieve better outcomes in every aspect of our lives.
What do you think?
