Making an Important Decision — Jack Lack's Listening Chair

Step 1 of 10 The decision

What I want

What do I want to achieve?

This might be a feeling, an outcome, or a change in your circumstances — anything that would count as success once a decision is made.

The decision

Given what I want to achieve, what do I need to decide?

This works best after reading Making Better Decisions.

Why now

What has changed, or what might change soon, that makes this decision necessary now?

My options

What choices do I really have? List every realistic one — sometimes there are more than two.

What this really involves

For the option I am leaning toward — what would I gain, what would I be giving up, and what would I be committing to?

Freedom and Authority

If I choose this — what decisions would still be mine? What might someone else decide instead? Am I comfortable with that balance?

Yes No Not sure

Looking at it from every side

A quick line on each — will this help, or make things harder?

Topic	Help	Harder	Not sure

If I was on my own

If I lived alone rather than as part of a couple, would this still work — financially, and in every other way?

Can I change my mind

If my circumstances change, how easily could I reverse this decision? If it stopped working, what would I do instead?

My decision

What will I do? What is my first step?

My review

When will I look at this again? What would tell me it is time to reconsider?

Before I finish — is there someone I trust, by name, not just "someone," who should hear about this before I act on it? Jack Lack's Listening Chair can help me think. It cannot know me, or stand in for the people who do.

There is no need to answer everything — only what is useful for the decision in front of you.

Jack Lack's Listening Chair is always here, as is your welcome.