photo credit: Erik Pitti

It is not always what we know or analyzed before we make a decision that makes it a great decision. It is what we do after we make the decision to implement and execute it that makes it a good decision.

— William Pollard

Back when I was working in Corporate America managing the installation of large computer systems, it was very important that everything be done correctly.  When a computer was ordered, it wasn’t delivered like today’s PCs are, it arrived in pieces and needed to be assembled.  Elaborate plans needed to be made to assemble the equipment, install the operating system (think Windows) and migrate the data.

These machines were so physically large that it was sometimes necessary to plan a route from the delivery truck into the machine room.  Because of the complexity of the process and the number of people from different organizations that needed to be involved, we had a process called “Systems Assurance.”  There were two purposes to the Systems Assurance meeting; ensure that nothing had been missed in the planning and inform all the relevant people of the plan.  Oh yeah, there was another purpose.  Since management always attended and signed off on the result, it put everyone in the boat if the ship sank.

Part of the planning process included contingency plans for the Murphy effect (what can go wrong, will go wrong).  After all, Murphy was an optimist and like Ellie’s daughter in Creative Optimism – Preparing for What Can Go Wrong, we believed that it was better to have Plans B, C and D than to embarrass ourselves and our company by not being prepared.

When I was a kid, my mother used to sing a song:  Every party has a pooper, that’s why we invited you.  Little did she know that this ability to plan for negative contingencies would become my claim to fame (for a while) and the source of a better than adequate salary.  Now, what Ellie called creative optimism and some psychologists call defensive pessimism has been shown to be good for some people.  Don Blohowiak explains how it works in his article Defensive Pessimism:

Psychologists call it “defensive pessimism.” And studies have found that people who exhibit it are actually less stressed when they indulge in their Chicken Little the sky is falling routine than when they are forced to express more optimistic or hopeful thoughts.

This oddly downbeat view of life helps such people to cope with life’s real bumps.

For the defensive pessimist or creative optimist, anticipating what can go wrong and devising a plan helps them feel better.  It reduces their anxiety and gives them the flexibility to respond when things don’t go according to plan.  For others, this kind of thinking makes them more anxious.  What’s really important is that you do what works for you.

Don’t Just Stand There – Make a Decision

Creative optimism is very helpful in some circumstances.  For example, if you’re in a plane taking off through a flock of birds, you really want to be flying with a pilot who has a Plan B for when the engines flame out.  But trying to figure out everything that could go wrong can result in being stuck.  There can just be too much to consider and to plan for.

(For me, when I’m stuck on one decision it:)

• Drains my energy
• Reduces my self-confidence
• Keeps me stuck about everything
• De-motivates me
• Is no fun.

Brian Rice of Leadership ConneXtions suggests three steps for getting unstuck.

1. Get clear on exactly what stuck means to you in this case.  Describe your experience as fully as you can.
2. Figure out what is internal and external about your “stuckness.”  What personal issues do you have that are contributing to your being stuck; lack of information, fear, depression, poor self-image?  What external issues exist that are contributing to being stuck; the recession, legislation, hiring freeze?
3. In the second step, you were defining the extent of the problem.  Now, brainstorm ways that you could use to change the issues you’ve defined.  Work with a trusted friend to help you break through your old way of thinking. (Trust the process.  I have a tendency to ask for help and then explain how each of my friend’s suggestions won’t work.  BUT, the suggestions are now in my head and often, one of them will nag at me until I examine it further and figure out how to make it work.)
4. Develop and implement a plan of action.

To me, being stuck is being powerless.  For me, that is one of the most awful feelings in the world.  So you can understand why I’m in the camp that believes that any decision is better than no decision at all.  I’m more in favor of taking action, than not.  AND always remember, not taking action is also a decision.  That may not be your intent, but the result is still the same – no action is the same as a “no” decision.  As my mother used to say, “Do something, or get off the pot.”  (Those of you with an active imagination can figure out what “do something” is.)

All is not Lost

Finally, after you make a decision and get unstuck, you need to implement your plan.  As I wrote in Still Heading for the Target, “The problem with a single minded focus on any goal is that the rest of our lives don’t stop while we pursue that goal.”  I have believed for a long time that being able to multi-task is essential to success.  In The Myth of the Concentration Oasis, Vaughan Bell makes an excellent argument (of course it’s excellent, he agrees with me) for the value and evolutionary necessity of multi-tasking.  He does this by disagreeing with a recently published book that claims that email and messaging will lead to our disintegration and a creativity dark age.

Bell points out that in “simpler times” we were constantly being interrupted by life; the thief who wanted to steal our food; the kids running around the cooking fire, etc. and the myth of being able to just concentrate on one thing is just that – a myth.  Because my life just doesn’t work if I can’t intersperse chores with my other responsibilities, I’m glad to find an argument that disagrees with the notion that I’m not doing my best because I want a clean house AND a good blog AND successful investing AND to be more fit.  Not that I was planning on changing but now I’m Still Heading for the Target and I don’t feel so guilty any more.