Out of respect for the OP of this thread: http://www.survivalmonkey.com/threads/9mm-or-40s-w.34508/ , I decided to start this as a separate thread. lol, I'm the same way. Last time I was looking to change jobs (required a move) , I even created a column and a calculation for 'happiness factor' - another column was '# of Starbucks'. Not that Stabucks were a deciding factor in my move but it applied another dataset to compare 3 different locations. 1 starbuck town vs 9 starbuck town is a relevant (and easily discoverable) demographic. Same for cost of living, etc. In the end, I boiled the choice of 3 down to a single number and we made our decision that way. I bet I still have that spreadsheet on my work laptop.
I like to boil everything down to a number/formula if I can. It takes any emotion out of the decision: "What would Mr. Spok do?"
I like to lay all the pros and cons out on paper when making decisions as well; but it didn't work out well when I used that method to decide to marry my second wife. Some things just can't be put on paper.
With women, I have a different method (although somewhat related). I call it "0 or better." It's all about mitigating and aggravating characteristics. If there's a characteristic I don't like, for example "mother-in-law" how many aggravating points is that? 7...20...99? Now, what are the mitigating factors that will cancel out that score and get you back to "0 or better?" Basically, what positive characteristic will cause me to ignore the negative characteristic? There needs to be preponderance of +s over -s. I know what you're thinking and it isn't true. Sooper-hot, make-up clad, Playboy quality chick.....all negatives in my book. Lots of hand-wringing in your future.
As an economist numbers are everything. As a hockey player...I put a map up and shoot slap shots until only one option remains.
Seriously, a decision matrix with weighted values and cumulative scoring are fantastic for decisions unusual or overly complex to the decision maker. Eventually, the decisions become intuitive with experience.
The key for me is in turning intangibles into weighted tangibles. In my scenario on a job/relo, I didn't actually pick the 'best' score but at least I know exactly, to a hundredth of a percent what I was getting into.
I agree. I'm just a savant when it comes to decision making. Do savant's make lots of mistakes, too? I'm gonna just say "yes". Easy as pie.
My experience not only lies in clinical medicine, but tactical and operational planning to the brigade level. Take a look at this http://www.dtic.mil/doctrine/jel/service_pubs/101_5.pdf with special attention to page 5-25
That's some good stuff. The problem I see with many people is that they use intricate tools in work, military ops, investment decisions but then make rash decisions with little thought towards the line authority of their 'home staff'. Most people make unintelligent decisions at home, which should be more important than when at work.
Definitely an aggravating circumstance of infinity plus one. But, ya know, she could lose weight and have her face cut on some more and she'd still be undesirable because of her attitude. I didn't mean to snuggle up to somethin' fugly. I meant that a really hot, glitzy, glam girl is probably going to cause you a lot of mental anguish--it did me...several times.
I dunno about that. At least if you're miserable with the Rosanne wife your friends will feel sorry for you. If you complain about your super hot wife, they'll just roll their eyes and offer to trade places with your ungrateful self.