Brilliance: The Pros and Cons List

By Yosef Solomon on Jul 14, 2010

Decision making is one of toughest obstacles many of us experience in life. Whether it’s your next job, dwelling, love or restaurant, all of us are faced with decisions everyday. Some are definitely more important than others and thus, should be treated as such. For those more important decisions, I look to the classic, yet effective Pros and Cons list. If you’re unfamiliar with the concept of a pros and cons list please refer to the post I did a while back about “Google Buzz: 3 Pros, 3 Cons.” My overall agenda was to isolate the positive and negative feedback I had about Google Buzz.

The decisive reason behind my fervor for utilizing this particular process is the simplicity in it all. Yes, it may seem a bit cut and dry, but its effective and more importantly action oriented.
Just recently we all witnessed Lebron James go on national TV to discuss his major “Decision” on where he’ll play next season and likely for the rest of his career. In the interview, Lebron referenced the all-important Pros and Cons list:

If it can aid Lebron James, arguably the most powerful athlete in the world on the biggest decision of his career, I think we can all put it back in our decision-making tool box. Again, going back to simplicity, I like the fact that it’s easy to understand, straight to the point, and results driven. In this example, one may argue that a simple pros and cons list may leave out vital information that can’t be quantified as either good or bad. However, at the end of the day, the decision relies on the decision maker and it’s that persons job to take that vital information into consideration.

In my experience, making the right decision is often hard to quantify without a pros and cons list. In terms of every major decision I’ve made in life, I’ve either thought of or created an intuitive pros and cons list. Was I right in every decision? No, probably not. But, did I have the confidence to know that the decision I made was based on methodical reasoning, yes.

Each one of us has our his/her own way of making thoughtful decisions. Some processes may be longer than others and some maybe even more complicated. But, if the end result is to be confident, satisfied and in good spirits about our decision, I definitely recommend the pros and cons list process. Food for thought!