What would you do in this situation?

In January, Brent from PacifiCom reordered his mousepad with a sunset in the center and his business information in the upper right corner. In February, Brent called again. "Larry, I received my mousepads, and they look different. I don't like how they look. Come over and let me know my options."

When I saw the old and new mousepads together, I could see a visible difference. It looked okay to me, but it todesn't matter what I think, it only matters what Brent thinks. I called my supplier and found that in the past 3 years, they upgraded their software and printing equipment to accurately print the files they received. As long as the business info was correct, from their point of view everything was fine. That was not the answer Brent wanted to hear, "I don't like them. I want 35% off or I'm sending them back!"

Now I have a decision to make.

What decisions have you made today?

The first was when you woke up. "Do I have to get up, or can I sleep just a little longer?" Most of our daily decisions are small: what do I eat, what do I wear, what route do I drive to work. Other decisions are larger: where do I invest my money or how do I treat people today. No matter what the decision, how do you make it?

Do you leave it to chance, do you base it on your emotions, or do you have guidelines that you follow? The rest of this article will explore these three decision making methods.

First, is leaving it to chance. Have you ever had a decision to make and just didn't want to make it. I have two sections of fence that have been leaning over for the past two years. I just haven't wanted to deal with it. I guess I'm waiting for the fence fairy to come and fix them for me, but it's still leaning over.

Maybe you have a decision to make and just don't know what to do. Put the choices in a hat, and draw one out. If I only have two choices, my favorite is to flip a coin. I've heard that while the coin is in the air, if you find yourself hoping for one choice more than another, that is the choice that you want. Which leads to the second decision-making method.

Second, basing your decision on your emotions - you do what feels good at the time. This may work for the short term. Researchers have found that people have 16 core desires, the most basic of which is to either avoid pain or to experience pleasure. Pain is a stronger motivator than pleasure, and most people will do more to avoid pain than to experience pleasure.

Last year, my wife and I talked about getting a laptop computer to use when we travel. I researched features and models, then waited. After Christmas my wife drove to Sacramento (about 100 miles south of us) to visit friends. I saw the laptop we were looking for, but it cost more than we wanted to spend. I knew she wouldn't be happy about that. I rationalized that we'd had a good year, and we'd take take it as a tax deduction anyway. I'd figure out the best time to tell her when she returned.

Forward to February. I'm preparing to go to Arizona on a trip, and I'm loading information into the laptop. Debbie walks into my office. "What's that?"

"A laptop I bought."

"How much did you pay"

I told her.

"Larry, I would never spend that much without consulting you first." She stormed out of my office.

Two thoughts flashed in my mind: 1) I guess I found the best time to tell her, and 2) She reacted as I anticipated. In my desire to avoid the pain of her dissatifaction, I let her find out about the laptop and I still felt the pain.

The third decision making method is when you have a goal or vision which provides guidelines for your decisions. Speaker and author Jim Cathcart describes it this way "How would the person I want to be decide in this situation?" Having a vision simplifies the process: does the decision take me closer to my goal or further away from my goal?

We recently attended a dinner at our church. Debbie didn't want her pumpkin custard dessert and offered it to me. The pumpkin and nutmet in my dessert tantalized my tastebuds and I was tempted, then I started thinking (don't you hate that), I've exercised 4 - 6 times per week since 1983 because I have a vision in my head about how I want to look and how I want to feel. Would eating the second dessert move me closer to my gold or further away from my goal? I declined.

One common decision we make each day is our attitude because our attitude is a choice. We can choose to offer a helping hand to people or a closed fist to keep them down. William Arthur Ward said "Everyone has the ability to make other people happy. Some do it by simply entering a room, others by leaving it."

So how did I decide with my customer. I let my customers know that I want to develop a long-term business relationship them with not just a one-time sale, and that I am committed to helping them succeed. I empathized with Brent about his disappointment with the mousepads, because I knew he wanted to hand them out at an event. I explained that sending them back wasn't an option because my supplier considered them ok. He'd still owe for the mousepads and he wouldn't have them. I also explained that I couldn't give him a 35% discount, but I could give him a 17% discount, making his price the same as my cost. Brent thought about it and accepted my offer.

We make many decisions each day. I've shared my experiences with all three methods: leaving it to chance, basing it on my emotions, and being guided by a vision. Being human, I use all three, even though I know that one has consistently provided better results than the others. I frequently remind myself of two important points:

1) what I characterize as the "small" decisions are important, because from making small decisions we learn how to make the "big" decisions and 2) I'm not just deciding what to eat or what to wear, I'm making a statement to myself and others of who I am.

How will you decide?