Option Solving Blog

Our good friend decided to Peel the Onion with Option C – Have At Home Party – based on our last option solving exercise. With that he opted to figure out how he was going to handle that ‘At Home Party.’

Being now even more familiar with the option solving approach, he immediately got focused on the appropriate question, which was: “Peeling the Onion: What is the best way to celebrate an important life milestone birthday in New York City- Option C: At Home Party; considering 1) there will be many potential well-wishers, 2) have a limited budget, 3) after Labor Day date, and 4) restrict communication to conjour a surprise?” These turned out to be the key four key considerations, despite several others, so the outcome will make his final possibilities much easier to handle.

Again, he had to determine two yin and yang “bookends” as outlier possibilities. These would aid focusing his friend’s intuitive, decision-making mind on his most realistic options. Bookends such as these are vital for preventing people’s fertile intuitive minds from wandering and losing focus. We are mostly unaware of how powerfully valuable but foot-loose our intuition can be unless properly focused.   

After due thought his two bookends turned out to be: “Ask friends in building to help” and “Ask spouse to arrange herself”: both of which were his least likely options for the reasons given. Even so, such bookends would provide the challenge his intuitive mind needed to produce the most creative options and help draw-out his friend’s most realistic one – see our Latest Worked Example.

He fairly readily produced five reasonable options, so as to stretch his range of options as much as possible. In fact, he left it open to come up with a sixth option after further thought, which you can review in our worked example. Your editor favored one particular option, right off the bat; it was: “Option- D: Get help from daughter and home help,” for pretty obvious reasons in view of the considerations.

With his Peeling the Onion pictogram now in place, he was then encouraged to set some time aside for emotional distancing – a form of objective thinking – before making his  choice…perhaps after 2 hours, later that day, or first thing the following morning. He could then create an immediate action initiative while everything was still fresh in his mind.

If you have an example of your own, please share it with this blogger, through the COMMENTS area.  Thanks Option Solving. (NOTE: Next posting will be in two week’s time: “What is my best alternative for taking care of media promotional needs?” Let’s have your COMMENTS or go to peter@ileadershipsolutions.com to connect with the blogger. Also consider buying the book: “Smart Decisions: Goodbye Problems, Hello Options” through amazon.com)

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