What's Most Important & Urgent Plus Compare Opportunity Costs -- Small Businesses Discussion Forum

[ Show ]

Support VoyForums

[ Shrink ]

VoyForums Announcement: Programming and providing support for this service has been a labor of love since 1997. We are one of the few services online who values our users' privacy, and have never sold your information. We have even fought hard to defend your privacy in legal cases; however, we've done it with almost no financial support -- paying out of pocket to continue providing the service. Due to the issues imposed on us by advertisers, we also stopped hosting most ads on the forums many years ago. We hope you appreciate our efforts.

Show your support by donating any amount. (Note: We are still technically a for-profit company, so your contribution is not tax-deductible.) PayPal Acct: Feedback:

Donate to VoyForums (PayPal):

[ Login ] [ Contact Forum Admin ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: 1, 2, 3, [4], 5, 6 ]

Subject: What's Most Important & Urgent Plus Compare Opportunity Costs

Author:
Dennis S. Vogel

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Date Posted: 22:29:36 11/20/12 Tue
In reply to: What IS the way? 's message, "Re: Superstition ain't the way unless you want more problems" on 21:22:38 11/17/12 Sat

From What IS the way?
> I wonder why you could wonder this - We may wonder, Is the necessary change in proportion to the threat?

Thanks for asking for clarification.
This question is an acknowledgment of a multiple choice situation, unfortunately in business the "right answer" depends on various factors.

The whole issue is - Considering our whole situation (including limited resources), is the necessary change (& what it'll cost) in proportion to the threat? Is the situation too far gone & beyond our ability to repair what happened? Should we focus on what we can prevent or fight what possibly could be unwinnable battle against something we can't stop?

Even when an answer seems to be a definitive solution (for a problem that affects people & businesses differently), there's still a matter of resources. Waiting for more resources to do what's optimal isn't always feasible because some potential problems (important, but seemingly in the distant future) become present realities. If problems (present realities) aren't eliminated they may become threats.

While potential & actual problems are forming, there are current threats. Some threatening situations are like a vehicle in a collision. The vehicle back end may be in great condition, though the front end is highly damaged. The vehicle is a total loss because restoring it to its pre-collision condition would cost more than the value of the vehicle if it were restored. Just repairing it so it'd be safe to drive could be too expensive compared to replacing it.

When transportation is needed NOW, waiting for costly repairs is more expensive because of the added cost of alternative transport.

While the aftermath is being assessed & plans for recovering are started, priorities should be set.

How Priorities Could Be Set
Medical triage is used to determine which patients can be saved based on their conditions & which resources are necessary. If a patient isn't apt to recover with the aid of available resources, s/he may end up waiting until the resources s/he needs are available.

Triage is necessary in other ways to determine what's most important & urgent (i.e. threats) compared to the opportunity costs of expending resources that could be used to fix important but not urgent problems. When looming problems are apt to become threats, is it wise to gamble resources on trying to stop what's already a threat? Would this amount to wishful thinking - hoping other problems don't become threats?

If those resources are used up in a vain effort against current problems, those resources will be unavailable for problems that could've been solved.

A form of triage can be used to determine what is most vulnerable to damage or loss & what can be done with current & nearby resources to prevent the damage or loss.

Urgent & Important
In Stephen R. Covey's Urgency & Importance Matrix in "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People", anything in Quadrant 1 (urgent & important) is what I consider to be a threat (but not necessarily mortal danger).

There are apt to be a variety of potential changes. Some changes may be solutions. Other changes may mitigate the threat or merely involve avoiding further injury by decreasing or ending exposure to what may be causing damage or threatening to cause damage.

Any changes could help to some extent. Whether changes are temporary patches or permanent solutions can depend on the level of resources invested to accomplish the changes.

When considering which option/variation to choose, people should consider what they can afford to do with their current resources (or possibly with resources they can obtain). Another consideration is �
What can they NOT afford? Can they afford to solve the problem (do they have much choice)? Can they afford to endure the symptoms & other issues of the problem? If they can't afford to stay in the same or similar situation, then they can't afford to NOT make some kind of change.

Different Situation Different Criteria
NOTE: I'm not implying what I've been describing is the only way people make decisions. Nobody (even the same person in different situations) will make decisions in the same ways. Decision making varies according to a number of factors. A few factors are self-confidence; confidence in advisors & other information sources; perceived success in past decisions; peer pressure (feeling forced to decide &/or possible criticism after a decision); the importance & urgency of desired results; stress of a person's overall life situation; etc.

Even if you know how a person decided in the past, you should realize to some extent s/he is different now after having more experiences & observations (how things worked or didn't work for others). Yet if you recognize a person's current pattern, maybe you'll know how to guide him/her to make the best decision. Just don't assume you know enough to make somebody else's decision. Also don't assume people know how to make the best decisions about certain issues.

A form of advice is to suggest how to decide what's best.

Some sales trainers suggest asking how prospects decided to buy a previous model. It may be a valid method, but it wouldn't be as good if a guy bought a sports car before, but now he needs a family car. If a previous version is a collectors' item, a customer may want a newer version for a different purpose.

Dennis S. Vogel
Your success depends on helping people find &
use what's best in their situations.
Please use this link to get free information
you can use to increase your success.
http://www.lakefield.net/~thrivingbusiness/

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]