Little Lessons

My goal each year is to read a book a week. I open a book, divide the number of pages by 7, and calculate my daily reading diet. I also keep a book on my nightstand, reading a few pages before going to sleep. Friends, bookstores and the local library keep the stocks filled.

“The right process can lead us to the right choice.” – Chip & Dan Heath, Decisive

Are you going to make any important decisions this year? Or at any time in the future? Then I recommend that you first read Decisive: How to Make Better Choices in Life and Work, by Chip Heath and Dan Heath.

The Heath Brothers are the authors of two other bestsellers – Made to Stick (2007) and Switch (2010). Chip is a professor at Stanford, and Dan is a senior fellow at Duke University’s Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship. Two smart siblings who collaborate to bring a fresh look at age-old problems.

At some point, you’ve probably made at least one bad choice in your life. I’m not talking about ordering “Death by Chocolate” with extra whipped cream after a large meal. But a poor decision that had a significant negative impact on your personal or business life. You want to avoid similar painful experiences in the future.

To help you escape those errors, the Heaths distilled the results of their research into a process they call WRAP:

• Widen your options
• Reality-test your assumptions
• Attain distance before deciding
• Prepare to be wrong

The book is broken out into sections that focus on each step of the process. Chip and Dan include studies and anecdotes to demonstrate the benefits of each step, as well as the consequences when people fail to follow a wise course of action. Some of the stories are famous examples of good and bad decisions, while others are based on the Heaths’ clients.

The WRAP process can’t guarantee that you’ll make a good decision every time. But the odds are in your favor when you follow these four easy steps.