Monday, August 28, 2017

#MicroblogMondays: Decisions, decisions...

Years ago, as a "team building" thing, my immediate coworkers & I had our personalities analzyed and categorized according to colour. People who are predominantly blue are supposed to be born leaders. They love taking charge and making decisions. Reds are analytical. Greens are pie-in-the-sky "wouldn't it be nice if" idealists. Their forte is ideas, more so than execution. I forget what yellows were. Knowing what colour we were, and the colours of our teammates, was supposed to make us a stronger team. (Ideally, you'll have a team that's a good balance of all the colours.)

My results showed that I am strongly red. My score on the "I enjoy making decisions" statement (a classic blue trait) was rock bottom. I can & will research all aspects of a subject until the cows come home (and love doing it) -- but actually biting the bullet, taking responsibility and making a choice is, quite often, pure agony for me. I will constantly wonder about the roads not taken, whether I did the right thing -- and, if things don't work out well, I'll be kicking myself over it for a long, long time to come. This is why I never became a manager, let alone CEO...!  (Knowing this, you can imagine how much fun infertility treatment was for me...!)

If I didn't know this about myself already, the past few weeks reconfirmed it. We're planning a little fall getaway with BIL & SIL, and (since I'm retired and have time on my hands & like to do research), I was tasked with looking into places to stay, eat, see, etc.  I've been to our destination before & know the general lay of the land and highlights -- but the last time I was there was well over 25 years ago! -- so I consulted the local tourism website and travel review sites like TripAdvisor,  as well as friends who live in the area or have visited there, etc.  I sent SIL an email with thumbnail sketches of all the major hotels, including ballpark prices and availability. I actually knew right away where I would choose to stay, if it was just me & dh -- but making decisions that involve other people is another matter entirely.

We went back & forth a few times, while the clock ticked and hotel rooms started filling up.  I finally called up SIL last night, outlined my "top three" hotel picks, my recommendation and the reasons why -- and thankfully, she agreed with me. Our rooms are now booked!

Now I just have to wait until we get there to find out whether I made the right call...!  :p  ;)

How do you feel about having to make decisions -- particularly when they affect other people? 

You can find more of this week's #MicroblogMondays posts here.

6 comments:

  1. Oooh, good for you! Vacation plan decisions are ones I never mind making. I like to reflect on them after to see what was worth it, what wasn't, what was a great find, what could I manage to never do again, etc. after the trip. Now, deciding what's for dinner? I HATE that decision. I always push it onto Bryce and then get annoyed when he doesn't want to make a decision. Ha! I hope you're going somewhere awesome! A fall getaway sounds amazing. It feels like fall now, and I am loving it. Enjoy your vacation! (Also, the color categories sound interesting, is it like a personality test?)

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  2. It wouldn't have been so bad if it were just for me & dh, but when it involves BIL & SIL -- and we haven't travelled together in a long time...! I just picked this hotel from what I could find out on the Internet -- reviews, price & location all seem pretty good... guess we'll find out...!

    The colour thing was sort of a personality test... we were each given a report that outlined our strengths/preferences and weaknesses/areas we could work on.

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  3. I am appalling at making decisions, the process paralyses me... At the moment, it's about whether to move house and it's killing me. But also little decisions, especially over purchases.. I would never have made it in management. Unfortunately the other half is also a bit hesitant, so together we never get anything done at all.

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  4. I love this. Sounds like you needed a friendly travel planner! (That's me, BTW. lol) I am getting pretty good at picking hotels based on reviews - and which reviews to believe and which just sound petty!

    Some decisions I'm fine with. I had a staff member once who loved how decisive I could be. But other decisions can be difficult. Especially when there's a lot of choice. And especially when choosing for others. That's the hardest thing I think.

    A trip though will be fun! I wonder where you're going? To be revealed in due course, I'm sure.

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  5. I'm really indecisive and find decisions stressful! I often worry I made the wrong decision and agonize over it.

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