What Do I Do Now?: Dr Fosters 30 Laws of Great Decision Making

Can a simple decision change our lives permanently for the better? Yes. When life hands us struggles or challenges or problems (or whatever euphemism you use to talk about when life gets hard), decision-making sometimes seems cloudy. Recently I read a thought-provoking book on decision-making called "What Do I Do Now?" by Dr. Charles Foster. In it, he lays out 30 laws of good decision-making he's developed from his over 14 years of studies with tons of participants. Maybe this sounds a little dry, but believe me - it's anything but dry. Better decisions about our lives and activities can have resounding results capable of creating great joy, opportunity, prosperity and peace in our lives. Just as a little taste of what's in there, I'll share some of my notes: Law #1 - Focus on the most important thing. (Wow, there's a great rule. Well, duh! I've heard this before. Yada, yada, yada! But wait... then Dr. Foster reveals...) How do you recognize the most important thing? * It's something that will make your life wonderful. (Oh, yeah. I forgot that decisions can do that. Good point.) * Or it's something that will enable you to take care of your most important responsibility. (Yeah, when that's taken care of, I'll breathe easier. Sounds sensible.) * Or it's something that will make it possible for you to solve your biggest problem. (Oh, yeah. That's right. Decision-making is about solving problems, not drowning in ambivalence.) * Or it's something that will address one huge, stubborn fact you've been refusing to accept. (Hey, buddy, what are you implying? That my lack of focus on making good decisions and taking action might be a problem for me? Errr, well, I kinda see your point.) * Or it's something that fits who you really are. (You mean it's OK for me to value myself as highly as I value others? That if I do what the Big Guy put me here to do, that might be a great decision? Maybe I should do more to fulfill my purpose. And maybe that would actually make me happier. What a concept!) Law #2 - Don't Decide Until You're Ready (I didn't have a problem with this concept. I take my dear sweet time already. I need to think more about his Law #4 - Choose It or Lose It.) Law #3 - Look for all the good things that can happen. (In the middle of struggle, we often fail to see the great things that can come of making good decisions. If we don't yield to the pressures of the moment, we can list out all the great things that can happen from making a good decision. Just so you'll start to think about what GOOD things can happen, the good doctor lays out...) Four Flavors of Good Things That Can Happen 1. You get more of what you were hoping for. 2. You get something from them that you never imagined you'd get. 3. The outcome you were looking for might be much more likely to happen than you realized. 4. The outcome comes with a smaller price tag than you thought. (I think you're getting the idea here. Better decisions lead to better o

I've always had a hard time making decisions. In fact I would research the heck out of everything in order to make one measly decision. I've always been happy with what I decided on, but I've alway went with there's always something better. Well it got so bad that I've got to the point of enjoying the research of something vs. going straight to the decision making....what a waste of time. What do I do Now? is a great life advice book but more importantly outlines what one considers when making a decision. What's great about this book is that instead of slowly getting to each criteria through researching, you go straight to it and make a decision quickly. I don't feel guilty for not able to make a decision either. It used to be that I thought I was too wishy washy to make one but in reality did not have enough info. to make a decision. The book helps in that it tells you at what step you are in a decision process. I'm really really glad I read this book!Danny-Dallas, Texas

Saw the book on the shelf and picked it up, glanced at the back and inside back cover and then a few chapters. I was hooked.This is an excellent book for explaining why we make decisions and how we can learn to make better decisions and very timely here in the SF bay area of California where there are lay offs in high tech and people are trying to decide to stay in CA or move and all the other issues we deal with on a day to day basis.The Chapters that are really helping me are Law#10 Do What You Really Want,#11 If It Ain't Simple, It Ain't Gonna Work, #12 Have a Hopeful heart and a Cautious Head, #28 You Don't Have to Run from Risk and #29 Following Through Makes Decisions Wonderful.This is a GREAT book for those of us who are at a fork in the road and it looks like a real fork with 3-5 choices. Or those of us who feel like the rope in a tug a war game and are feeling the rope burn. This is why I got the book, because I needed some sound proven (important word) advise that would help be choose the right branch or path in the road and the right way to avoid more rope burn.On page 111 he says "You don't just make a decision. You live a decision" which is wise advise. And that "You have to ask yourself what you would want if none of the people in your life were in the picture". In Chapter or Law 11 (excuse the bad English in the title. English teachers will wince) he asks "Are you making things more complicated than they need to be?"The author Dr Charles Foster really knows, appreciates and practices the KISS mode of life. Keep It Simple Silly. Great book and well worth the money and time. And a book that you will actually use a great deal and should have on your book shelf. Buy a copy for your local library as well. Share the wisdom with others.Every time I pick the book up and re-read it I learn something I had missed the times before. This is a sign that a book has WISDOM!

It's about time someone wrote a book on this topic. Is the book revolutionary or going to create a great upheaval? Of course not. Is it good sound, sensible advice? You bet!! Whether one is a CEO, parent, child, laborer,secretary, politician, professional, etc., we are faced with daily decisions ranging in magnitude from 0 to 8.0 on the Richter Scale. From what to do for dinner to what college to attend? From what to wear to do I take this new job and move my family? It's amazing though how difficult it can be sometimes to make a decision. For those involved in selling anything,you know first hand what a hurdle it can be to get someone to decide. For no other reason than to provide yourself with greater personal insight, make the decision to buy and read this book.

Personal decision-making is something that few study, and even fewer work on to systematically improve upon their processes and practices. This book will allow anyone to become aware of weaknesses in their decision-making, and remedy those flaws. It will be especially valuable to those considering questions like who to marry and when, which career or job to choose, residential location, whether to have children or not, leaving a relationship, saving and investing money, handling health issues, assisting children with their problems, and the focus of your retirement. Although I have had a great deal of formal decision-making training, I found that it did not cover many of the areas of advice here. So even if you think you know this subject, I suggest that you take a look at this book. Think of this book as a compendium of common sense that may not occur to you while you wrestle with an important decision. Dr. Foster is a Ph.D. and M.B.A. so he has a sense of the theoretical as well as the practical. His 30 laws were divined through a 12 year study where the decisions of a few dozen people were tracked. Then the group was divided into two, based on the good or bad quality of the decisions. Those things more often done by the "good" decision makers became the basis of the laws. Although the group is too small to be representative of the whole population, it is certainly an improvement over intuiting the ideas in the absence of any data. No data or analysis of these cases are provided, so you cannot see how strongly the observations held for yourself. That is the key limitation of the book, from my point of view. I would normally be skeptical of such poorly documented advice, based on a "study" but the answers fit my intuition pretty well. So I am awarding five stars based on my personal reaction to the laws, rather than to the "study" itself. In making a decision, you are encouraged to apply all 30 laws . . . not to look just for the laws that apply. You will find that some laws seem to conflict with others. I interpreted this as trying to help you acquire a more balanced perspective. Consider, for example, law #2 (Don't Decide Until You're Ready) which could come into conflict with law #4 (Choose It or Lose It) which points out that you cannot let too much time pass. In this case, the author suggests that the first 10 laws are in order of importance, and those that rank more highly should outweigh the lower ones. So you should take whatever time you need, keeping in mind that you don't want to let so much time pass that you make the decision through inaction. You'll just have to resolve these conflicts for yourself, as best you can. People will differ on how they do that.Many such books are no more than a list of 30 laws, with some examples given. I was pleased to see that almost every law also had detail behind it that would help you apply that law properly. For example, law #7 (Turn Big Decisions into a Series of Little Deci