Time, organization, and decision-making are often all interconnected, the amount of time you have to make a decision can influence your effectiveness at making the right choice, and allows you space to play out your options. Making decisions successfully is at the root of all of your life’s organization since the management of plans and activities revolve around what you decide. In this post, we’ll discuss  the value of time, the importance of a decision-making timeline and how too much time and not enough time will often negatively affect the productivity of your decisions.

Value of Time As it Relates To Making Decisions

Comprehending the various outcomes possible for each decision making is an important part of choosing the right option. The process of decision-making requires a variety of mechanisms that are involved with human thought, with factors and actions creating different possible results.

When making a decision, you need time to gather information, play out different possible outcomes, and assess the possible results. Finding the right answer to decisions is partially from your subconscious and your gut reaction, as Malcolm Gladwell states in his book Blink. However, the other necessity of decision-making is from elements of the environment and the specific time and location in which you are in.

Understand The Decision-Making Timeline

• Step 1: Identify your options and understand the choice at hand.

Defining the decision you must make is the first step to picking a choice that serves you and your life, many people miss this step.

• Step 2: Collect all relevant information for your decision

Gather information about the decision at hand can mean looking internally through self-assessment and introspection as well as outside sources of information based on the circumstances of the choice.

• Step 3: Consider the alternatives, meaning all the choices you could make within the decision

Make a written list of all possible alternatives or options, use your imagination and walk through what each alternative would mean for your life and circumstances. Which outcome makes the most logical sense for you to take?

• Step 4: Weigh your options, visually the outcome of each choice.

This can be more emotional, put yourself into the future, which alternative makes you feel most at ease? This is important to note when making your decision. Which alternative brings you closer to your personal goals? After you’ve answered these questions, place your options in order from most favorable to least. 

• Step 5: Make your decision and commit to an option

Although this is the most simplistic step in the decision-making timeline, it often is the most difficult step for people to take. Generally, you’ll take whichever alternative was #1 on your list in the previous step, or perhaps you’ll find a way to combined multiple steps within the options.

• Step 6: Initiate your next step going forward

Implement your decision and take steps to move forward with your choice, being confident that you’ve weighed your options and made the decision that best suits your personal, financial, or professional goals.

• Step 7: Look back on your decision & its intended and unintended results.

After you have made and followed through with your decision look back on its results. Did it serve and meet the need you laid out in step 1? If not then you need to go back and start again while trying to consider the other alternatives. Perhaps you needed more information and to do more research.

What is the Financial Value of Your Time?

It is important to understand the value of your time, particularly when making decisions regarding finances. Most decisions related to finances are about the costs and the benefits to your choice over a period of time. Time value allows you to see the importance of your cash flows at different times in your life. An easy way to think of this is with this example: a bank will give you 100 dollars now or 200 dollars in 5 years. Yes, you’d rather have 200 dollars but in 5 years, but will you need the 200 dollars are much as you need the 100 now.

This is also important to consider for the 7 steps of a decision-making timeline, if the decision is not worth the amount of time it takes to properly decide, perhaps go with your cut and see how it turns out. If the decision has strong personal or financial repercussions, don’t rush! Take you time to consider all the options. The value of time in the decision-making is important so that you made the choice that serves your goals.