James H. Willis, III
Founder and President
The Willis Agency, Inc.
813-948-9109
Jim@TheWillisAgency.com
www.TheWillisAgency.com
1 Peter 5:7
I can’t think of a more practical subject that the one that helps answer, “How do I make the best decisions?” I talk to people on a daily basis about major, life-changing, situations: retirement and all of the questions that come along with it. What? When? Why? Who? What will life be like in the future? How do I figure out the two major federal programs, Social Security and working through the Medicare maze?
In my Kingdom Advisor material is a whole chapter dealing with decision making. I will simplify the outline here. If you would like the entire chapter, it is available through our main office. It is helpful! Awesome! Revealing!
The Typical Decision Making Situation
1. Confusion
2. Conflict
3. Competing Objectives
4. Limited resources with many demands
5. Time Restraints
Barriers to Decision Making—Always
1. Lack of Time
2. Buried Raw Data
3. Poor Process
4. Lack of Skills
5. Answering the Wrong Questions
6. Is your decision in God’s name?
“Woe to the rebellious children,” declares the Lord, “who execute a plan, but not Mine, and make an alliance, but not of My Spirit.” (Isaiah 30:1)
7. Five Emotional Traps
a. Fly by the seat of your pants
b. Underestimate the influence of
personalities—yours!
c. Moving too fast—jumping to
conclusions
d. Overconfidence
e. Group-thinking
10 Steps to Wise Decisions
1. Prayer (James 1:5-6)
“Lord, what would you have me do?”
2. Define your Decisions
“What’s the question?”
3. Clarify your objectives
“What are the decision criteria?”
4. Prioritize your objectives
“What are the non-negotiables?”
“What are the trade-offs?”
5. Identify your alternatives.
6. Evaluate your alternatives
“What are the facts?”
7. Make preliminary decisions.
8. Assess the risk
“What could go wrong here?”
9. Make the final decisions.
10. Test the decisions with your spouse or
friends, primarily God’s Word.
As your Stewardship Assistant, I work very hard in guiding you to your best end result and have been doing so for 35 years now.
Caring for you and yours,
Jim