So, the first thought out of my head when I read that I was supposed to be posting about a book we finished a few weeks ago was '...but I've slept since then!' (Yes, I'm a snarky excuse of a wench, thank you for noticing.)

Once I got the snark out of the way, a task easier said than done, mind you, I sat back to contemplate. I even did a contemplation pose, which is similar to Winnie-the-Pooh's thinking pose. What did I learn from this book?

One of the primary things that I learned was a great deal about recognizing the underlying reasoning for decisions that I make in my everyday life. This is good information for just about anyone to know, even though the book is technically about managerial decision making. How can we make decisions in a corporate setting if we don't recognize why we make our most common choices? By being able to recognize the patterns of my decision making I can sort of map out the way my mind tends to work and do one of two things with it:

1. Make it work better for me. What I mean by that is once I know the pathways I can navigate them that much more efficiently. It's like getting a new car. At first, you're relatively careful because you don't know all the little quirks and triggers she might have. Once you've been driving her for a while you know what makes her tick and you can use that knowledge to make the car work better for you. Knowing the underlying reasons for making decisions is like knowing what makes you tick.

2. Work around myself. Say I've got a a bad decision making habit, or just a decision making habit in general, that will not work for a particular problem. Before I knew how my mind was mapped out I might have made a choice without realizing the reasons for that choice. But now that I know the way it works in my mind I can consciously work around my natural inclinations. It's not easy by any stretch of the imagination, but at least I can do it now.

So, yeah. That's what I learned mostly from that book. I've started doing a lot more self-examining about the way I make choices and decisions not only at work but in my everyday life because the skills of noticing and even re-routing my natural inclinations need to be developed. That can't wait til I've got to make a corporate decision. I need to start working on it now.

K