Decision Making and My Five Favorite Tools of Choice for Self-Improvement in the World Today
Posted: Tuesday, October 04, 2011
by Suzi Gravenstuk
http://www.suzi-gravenstuk.blogspot.com
In the world today, even the poor are often wealthy in terms of choice. Having an inventory of many choices or options is simultaneously a blessing and a curse. The act of choosing among good things can be almost painful. Sometimes in comparing a multitude of good things (things such as: concepts, tools, methods...) one has to define criteria and rate importance to choose one of many good choices to become the choice.
Take writing to the topic “...in the world today”. The topic is broad, but defined by “in the world” and “today”. We at least know that we are not specifically looking for something in the past to write about. The phrase, “In the world”, speaks to me in a concrete--here and now nature, definitely not “heavenly”, we are not including the universe, and the topic is not a historical type assignment.
Because the specific group that has this assignment is called “Self-Improvement”, I chose to narrow the topic “In the world today” by attaching the intent of the group. One road to self-improvement is to challenge oneself. One of my choices of challenge is to write to topic as a team and group member reader-writer at SearchWarp.com with the goal of improving my writing.When one’s inventory shows many choices it is easy to become “overwhelmed”. The simplest cure I know for the “overwhelmed” malaise is to develop criteria to narrow the field of choice.
Let’s take reading for example. Holy cow, people definitely have an overwhelming amount of resources for reading. I begin narrowing my reading resources by defining my topic, deciding on my media of choice, then defining the media of choice. Again, take the example of Self-Improvement. I then narrow the field to the Internet. I further narrow the topic to the Internet address or community; “SearchWarp.com” for example. I find I still feel overwhelmed because there are so many strong writers in the self-improvement category.
Recently, SearchWarp administration developed teams and groups. This is another tool to use for defining criteria. IF I am still overhwhelmed with resources, I may need to choose to read from a team or group writer. If the choices in relation to the time available are still overwhelming, I may need to further define critera, perhaps choosing to read a writer I choose to “fan”. If choices are still over-whelming, I may then further decrease choices by reading a writer in which I have a reciprocal “Fan” relationship with. This should provide a reasonable amount of choices to topic. But--should choices STILL be overwhelming, I could further define my choices by recent commenters...
So, top level of my five favorite tools for self improvement are:
1) Goal Setting
2) Challenge
3) Read|research to topic
4) Ask. Especially if one is a member of a strong Internet community, one is able to get help in moving towards any goal one could set. Indeed, it is as simple as “just ask to receive”.
5) Write. The writing is not so much to be read, but to think. If I write my thoughts I am more likely able to catch my own inconsistencies. Plus, writing helps to develop a historical record so that one can detect change.
In closing, let’s put this method to work. Upon finishing this “Write to Assignment”, I have errands to run. When I return I will have 20 minutes of reading time that I look forward to using with SearchWarp at the Self-Improvement group (my short-term goal). I could likely spend the rest of my life simply reading at this group (my challenge). Self-Improvement, after all is an on-going process. I am never there, never satisfied.
Some other criteria I use for narrowing my reading selections are:
? Length of article (I have a short attention span and limited time)
? Style of article--Yes, bullets, spare usage of underline, Italics and bold help me to find the main points.
? Pupose of reading, or category: This time I plan to see what others have written to topic using, “in the world today” in the self-help group.
Ahhhh. Now I have a manageable group of reading resources. But, if I need help--I can ask. In asking at this stage, I would likely ask the SearchWarp search function. In this case asking also involves writing.
How do you decide how you spend your reading time?
This article is approximately 810 words. It is written using Google documents which is one of many free word processors. I specifically like this one because I already use so many Google tools and because it has a word count and frequent auto save feature. I usually include a word count because I wish to be cognizant of the length of my articles.
This Article has been viewed 189 times. (Not updated in real-time.)
Top-level comments on this article: (3 total)Nice article. Not a surfacy rendition of "goal orientation", but a real chunk of digestible info. Thanks for this very well done article. Your writing percolates with interest and energy. Can't wait to read more of your stuff.Christofer, thank you very much for reading and taking the time to comment fully. With the abundance of reading choices we have--it is indeed an honor to be selected. As usual, I see many ways to improve
Hoho, you write so many things so clearly, so easy to understand :). And that is a hella interesting point you made there, why do we need more resources, there are already tons of it xd. I use the SW add article tool to write articles and then i visit javascriptkit's word count section to count my words and check up my spelling mistakes. Thanks for writing according to the topic, it drives me forward to lead when i get some responses. Guess you are the first one to write about it, so, here is the promised 75 points :). See you around.
I think a strategy and organization are really important, otherwise one can be completely overwhelmed. Your advice is excellent, Suzi, thanks.
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