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7 - Identifying Decision Opportunities

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 April 2020

Ralph L. Keeney
Affiliation:
Duke University, North Carolina
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Summary

The distinction between decision problems and decision opportunities is very important, but it is not recognized by most decision-makers. Decision problems are decisions that you must face as a result of others’ decisions and/or circumstances beyond your control. Decision opportunities, as I define them, are decisions that you create for yourself. You must reactively solve decision problems, but you can proactively pursue decision opportunities. When a decision problem occurs, it degrades one aspect of your quality of life. Therefore, the purpose of solving a decision problem is to get your quality of life back to where it was before the decision problem occurred. A thought about something that would make your quality of life today better is what stimulates the recognition of the decision opportunity. Pursuing it directly enhances the quality of your life. In addition, it often lowers the chances of certain unwanted decision problems occurring in the future and reduces the extent of the downgrading of your quality of life if they do occur. Guidelines for creating desirable decision opportunities are provided and illustrated with examples.

Type
Chapter
Information
Give Yourself a Nudge
Helping Smart People Make Smarter Personal and Business Decisions
, pp. 117 - 140
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

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