Making Important Decisions

    Throughout our lives, we will have to make many decisions. Some will be small and unimportant, but others, such as where to go to school, which career to pursue, and whether or not to buy a house, will be very important. It is this type of decision that we must be very careful about making. In my opinion, a person should never make such an important decision alone.

    One reason for my opinion is that I believe “two heads are better than one”. When we have an important decision to make we can benefit from the advice and experience of others. In addition, just talking the issue over with someone else might help us to see aspects of the problem we had not considered before. Another reason for not making big decisions alone is that often these decisions do not affect only us. If someone else is going to be affected by the decision, for example, our spouse or business partner, that person should be able to voice his opinion and take part in the decision-making process.

    These are only two of the reasons for never making an important decision alone, but I feel that they are the most important ones. By involving others in our decisions, we not only show them respect but benefit from their knowledge and experience. In this way, we are bound to make better decisions.

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做重要的決定

    我們在一生當中要做很多決定。有些決定是微不足道的，但有些決定卻非常重要，例如要念哪一所學校、要從事何種職業，或要不要買房子。做這一類的決定時，我們必須非常小心。我認為，絕對不要獨自一個人做如此重要的決定。

    我的其中一個理由是：“三個臭皮匠，勝過一個諸葛亮”。當我們要做重要決定時，聽聽別人的建議與經驗會有所幫助。而且，就算只跟別人討論這些問題，也可能會讓我們看到事情的另一面，而那是我們之前沒考慮到的。另一個不要獨自做重大決定的理由是，這些決定通常影響到的不只是我們自己。例如，如果還有其他人，如配偶、事業伙伴等，會因這項決定而受影響，他們就應該有權發表意見，并參與決策的過程。

    這些只是兩個我認為絕不能獨自做重大決定的理由，但我認為它們是比較重要的。讓別人參與決策，不僅能表現出我們對他們的尊重，而且也能從別人的知識與經驗中獲益。如此一來，我們就一定能做出更好的決定。