How to find the right answer at the right time.

As you navigate your way through everyday life, you are faced with a lot of decisions or choices. Some of these decisions or choices impact your life minimally and others can have a very significant influence. In fact some of these choices can have a life changing impact.

No one makes a wrong choice, willfully. You are predisposed to doing your very best, particularly when it has to do with your own welfare. Therefore, it is reasonable to surmise that people make the best possible choice that they could come up with at that moment. In other words, their actions are based on the bestinformation they could access, and react to, at that instant. The following phrase are commonplace to express one’s feeling when things have not gone as planned.

I am doing the best I can. Or, if knew of a better way out, I would have taken it.

More detailed information about the human information processing system and specific steps of our intrapersonal communication during the decision making process are outlined in another article in my blog.

Your information storage house, or your personal treasure cove of ‘big-data’ that holds within it the secrets of superior choices is your very own unconscious mind. This is where you organize and file away every single experience of your life and every bit of the information connected with that experience. The only thing left to do is to implement a system to be able to access that information, the instant you need it. By developing top-notch intrapersonal communication skills you can enhance your abilities to have better and more opportune access to this private treasure chest. This is how you can come up with the right answer at the right time.

Socrates said, knowing to ask the right question is knowing half the answer! When you understand the significance of focusing on learning how, what and when each time you come across a simple task or a demanding challenge, you are half way to knowing what to do when and how to do it. The second half of this consists of a combination of three key factors:

• Know your outcome – define what you want precisely and to the minutest possible detail.
• Have a well-defined strategy to attain your outcome and identify the accompanying tactics to execute that strategy.
• Equip yourself with the skills needed to execute that strategy masterfully – every single time.

Each situation has its own set of factors, variables, nuances and complications. There can also be numerous peripheral elements present that play a part in the final results.

Of course there are many ways to tackle a specific situation. Your approach will depend upon your perception and preconceived notions about dealing with something similar. In other words, your approach will be based on information that you have previously gathered and recorded on that specific subject.

For example, if you arrive late for a meeting, you will handle that situation based on your other experiences of being late in the past – and on every single piece of information, written or spoken, that you may have gathered and recorded in your data base, on this subject. Or, as another example, if you are suddenly forced to deal with a hostile co-worker, same principal will apply. Confusion and uncertainty will kick in when you find yourself dealing with a situation where you have no similar previous experience. That simply is how we function.

Here is a 5-steps, tried and true formula that will work in almost every situation, regardless of its complexity.

1. Correctly identify each and every factor, direct and peripheral, that may play a part at any stage.

2. Define your own outcome clearly and precisely.

3. Identify each and every resource that is, or may become available.

4. Select the most effective strategy and the accompanying tactics.

5. Execute your strategy masterfully and make corrections as needed.

When you combine this formula with breaking down your outcome into smallest possible segments approach, you will be able to come up with the right answer at the right time, regardless of the intricacy of the situation.