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Making Yes or No Decisions

Making Good Decisions - Yes or No? (Should I - Should I Not?)

Yes or No Decisions

To make a correct decision, follow these simple steps:


First rule. Make the decision!
Don't procrastinate unnecessarily.

Write out the decision you need to make in the form of a Yes/No question.

For example:
Should I buy a dog? Yes or No?
Should I move to Australia? Yes or No?
Should I employ a new receptionist? Yes or No?

What are you making a decision about?

Enter all the reasons in favour of your decision - a yes vote.
Think about all the reasonable arguments that are in favour of a YES vote.

Now, take the opposite view and list all the reasons for voting against the decision - all the reasons for voting no.
Be methodical and put your mind totally on the task of finding all the reasons for voting no.
When you have finished, have a short mental break.

Your question: Should I do [X]?

Enter a positive reason:

Enter a negative reason:

Positive Reasons:

Negative Reasons:

  • Nothing yet!

When you've thought of all the reasons, press:

Next Step > Next Step >

You now need to rank (or weight) each reason in turn out of 100, according to how important you believe each reason to be.
In this case, 100 means very important, 0 is hardly worth mentioning.
The point is to give each reason a numerical score, out of 100.

Now repeat the process for all the reasons against.
Score each reason to give it a level of importance: 100 is maximum, 0 is minimum.
Your task is to quantify the reasons and attach a numerical value to each reason, one at a time.

Your question: Should I do [X]?

Rank the following reason out of 100: Reason Name
Drag the slider to the correct value (or tap on a mobile device).

Based on the evidence given, the answer to your question:
I should do [X]?
Has been calculated (by your weightings) as ???.

Here's how it's worked out:

    Should I do X?
    ???
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      You may benefit from attending our time management course.

      Need to decide about something else?

      Are you making a different type of decision? We have other decision making apps available for you to use - find out more here.

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      Customer Reviews

      Here are a selection of reviews for our training courses.

      • Excellent content. Gave great practical advice and tools to deal with many of the issues faced on a daily basis. In particular the tool to allow quick prioritisation, by value. Chris was an excellent trainer, very good communicator and easy to follow.

      • Came to the course with a huge workload sitting on my desk, but I think I'll be able to tackle this in a better way (and better frame of mind) having done this course. The trainer's presentation was excellent. Good pace, clear presentation and we were involved and engaged throughout. Lots of good stuff presented. Thanks.

      • The course contained a good balance between theory and practical exercises. Content could be applied to all of us in the group, despite differences in working backgrounds. I found the conflict management and use of language sections of the course particularly useful. The trainer's presentation was excellent. I'll certainly take away points that I'll implement in work.

      • Very informative and constructive, carefully planned out presentations. Well timed breaks and a very clear message and objective for each subject. I especially found the time management and planning very beneficial, as well as the SMART and wrong box/right box techniques. This course has not only benefited me as a manager, but also helped me improve as a person. Alison was a very knowledgeable and informative presenter, clearly understanding each members need to be there. An absolute credit to her profession.

      • The course will definitely help me to be a better trainer. I have received a lot of important information and techniques which I can use during training. The Trainer was very nice, good speaker, not boring and spoke very clearly.

      • I found learning the different processes really helpful. Having different models and matrix for scenarios is a great way to remember these tools. I really liked having the summary pages. I would be happy to delve into more areas. The trainer had great momentum, gave clear explanations. I love a flow chart so found the visuals very helpful. Thank you, it has been so helpful and can't wait to put it into practice.