Option Solving Blog

In recent times I was talking with a friend about building his Website following and how it was going. He was encouraged so far, although the question was whether he could speed things up. That introduced a conversation about his various options for doing so.

And that’s where we begin exploring that possibility with an appropriate rational question, such as: “What is our optimum option for building subscribers to our weekly newsletter; considering 1) attempts to build momentum, 2) economy is struggling with COVID, 3) others to share the load, and 4) marketplace has a lot of potential?” Again, we restricted his considerations to the four most apparent ones that are likely to have the most impact on his optimum choice. By holding it to four, it will reduce the complexity of his decision-making when the moment arrives: despite there being other possible considerations.

Now he had to derive two appropriate yin and yang “bookends”,as these will help him keep his intuitive mind focused. Bookends such as these are vital for preventing our fertile intuitive minds from wandering and losing concentration. We are mostly unaware of how powerfully valuable but foot-loose our intuition can be unless we can keep it properly focused.   

Two bookends came to his mind as: “Sit back and let natural market forces work” –will take undue time,and “Get financial backing for aggressive marketing campaign,” will take time and likely lose equity share to get backing – although sometimes that makes sense? You will note the italicized detractors associated with these least likely options. Even so, these bookends will now nudge his intuitive thinking into high gear – see ourLatest Worked Example.

It was then important to come up with at least five realistic options, although he ultimately came up with six within a decent amount of time. He would  then pursue emotional distancing, which is a form of objective thinking, before making his choice sometime after that …perhaps after 2 hours, later in that day, or first thing the following morning. You can replace his proposed options with any of your own. You will note one of his possible options as: Option A: Founding Member – Become a founding member by introducing up to 3 new members…to enhance initial numbers.

In fact, he decided to sleep on his six options and then make a choice first thing the following morning. From there, he will either put together an action initiative, while things are still fresh. It would also be possible to pursue Peel the Onion yet again for even further clarity on the way forward.

If you have an example of your own, please share it with this blogger, through the COMMENTS area or contact him at peter@ileadershipsolutions.com .  Thanks Option Solving. (NOTE: Our next posting will be in two week’s time: “What is our optimum book distribution mode in a post-pandemic independent publishers’ world?” 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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