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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.

      • The content was informative and had a good balance of group activities with the main topics. I found the sections on time management, dealing with difficult conversations and how to keep yourself motivated, very useful. The information was clear and concise. Again a good balance in the way it was taught. The examples and good humour helped with understanding the various models.

      • Excellent content, covered many issues I have come across in my new role. I feel more confident on how to deal with conflict and prioritising workload. The trainer's presentation was really clear and helpful and made me feel really comfortable. I am walking out of this training course feeling a better person. Thank you, Alison.

      • The course content was very good. Initially worried it might be a bit 'airy-fairy' and not very practical, but I have learnt a lot, particularly the conflict wrong box/ right box. I feel a lot of it will be easy and do-able to put into practice.

      • I found the course content to be relevant and set out in a clear and logical order. I especially found the decision making matrix to be useful and also the use of Edison's story which was engaging and very interesting. Thoroughly enjoyed it. The trainer's presentation was a very good pace, enough time to think and understand and yet we covered a lot of topics. Everything was explained in clear language.

      • I thought the course was well structured and thought out. It gave me good practices that I can take back and implement at work and some ideas to improve my own personal habits. The trainer was clear, concise and friendly. Sometimes courses are daunting, but I felt at ease straight away.

      • Course content was comprehensive, interactive, stimulating with individual and group learning. The trainer’s presentation was clear, well organised, well communicated, instructive, relevant and useful.