Indecision can have a hugely detrimental aspect on our performance. Many of us struggle to decide which action to take when presented with a challenge. We can easily suffer from paralysis from analysis and get caught in an indefinite loop where we lose precious time while pondering what to do.
In his book Never Finished, David Goggins details his experiences during paramedic training. As a paramedic, it is crucial to make immediate decisions, as time is of the essence. A person’s life may hang in the balance, and the decisions made by the paramedics on site can decide if they live or die.
During training, paramedics are taught to make a simple assessment as quickly as possible. Is the patient a ‘load and go’ or ‘stay and play’ case? A load-and-go patient requires treatment at a hospital rather than at the accident site, and the focus must be on how quickly they can get them to a hospital. This assessment focuses on whether the paramedics have the required skills, experience, and equipment to perform the relevant work.
In contrast, a stay-and-play patient is one to which the paramedics will give treatment on-site. Either there is insufficient time to transport the patient, immediate action is required, or treatment is simple enough to be delivered with available equipment and staff.
While the field of paramedics is very specific, this strategy and planning can relate to everyday life. It is a powerful method for aiding decision-making in several ways.
Load and go
Not every scenario can be addressed straight away. We often face a challenge that requires help from others or external factors to occur before completing it. This is, unfortunately, unavoidable. However, we can minimise its detrimental impact by assessing this reality as soon as possible. The earlier we can establish that we cannot currently handle the situation, the quicker we can plan our next steps and schedule the tasks to be completed later.
Stay and play
Stay-and-play situations are a task which hits at least one of three key requirements.
1. It Is important to be completed asap
2. Can be completed in a small amount of time
3. A delay in its completion limits/holds up/dangers other tasks down the line.
Asking these three questions can aid you in two ways. It will frame the importance level of the task. The answers will either highlight an immediate need to complete the task or reassurance of its low level of importance.
How to assess a situation
There are four simple questions to ask yourself when you find yourself in a dilemma about which strategy to deploy
1. Is this the most important task I need to complete right now?
2. Can I achieve this task alone?
3. Will it be significantly quicker/better with aid?
4. Will focus on this task now detriment my progress significantly on anything else?
If the task is not the most important task you have right now, is not achievable alone or is detrimental to other focuses, then it can highlight that you should move on and return to this decision/task. While this is not one size fix all solution to all task dilemmas, it can aid the break up of paralysis by analysis and aid you in moving forward again by forcing a decision.
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