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Making Decisions
When is the best time to make decisions? When you are squeezed in a corner or when you have choices? Let’s say the Global Financial Crisis has got your business to the point of collapse. Would that be a place to make the best decisions from? Would it be better to make the decisions from a place of having choices?
Before you object and say “but my hands are tied!” let’s go back a step and examine the emotional states we make decisions from. A while back I hired a personal trainer to get me ready for a tough physical challenge. The routines she took me through were very challenging and I wanted to quit, several times. She was very wise and said that she would let me quit if I made the decision after I completed my daily gruelling routine! By the time I was done with my daily routine, I felt a sense of pride and achievement and decided to hang in there. However before I started my daily routine the temptation was to say: “I quit.” Do you see the difference between two emotional and physical states?
Imagine you have overeaten or drank too much the night before. What is the tendency to say the next morning? “I’ll never do that again!” But as hours and days pass, your resolve wanes away and when faced with tempting foods and drinks you say: “What the ...” and get stuck into them. The best time to make a decision in that scenario is before you take the plunge. In other words, the best time to make a decision is when you have choices.
In the well known fable, the wolf calls the grapes sour because it cannot reach them. This happens so often in trading. “I really do not want trading profits anyway, who wants the millions.” People claim they do not want material success and walk away. When said from a point of no material success, these philosophical words are meaningless. It is quite another thing to make the success and then say: “Hmm that is not really what I wanted” coming from a point of choice. On the other hand you might find yourself saying: “Hmm, I really like this!”
Let’s come back to our first point of a business collapsing. Does it happen overnight? Are there no signs of bad times ahead day to day? Does one have more choice earlier in the piece than waiting for the last minute? The same applies to your portfolio and funds under management. It is best to make decisions when you have multiple choices.
As you make your decisions in your life and trading, big or small, consider the emotional states ahead and assess which ones will give you more choices.
Believe, achieve.
Believe, achieve.
Sinan Koray
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