Thursday, May 29, 2008

Decisiveness + Analysis =

"How much time do I spend analyzing and worrying about something that I want to do?", I asked my wife.

"You don't spend anytime at all.", she replied.

"And, what percentage of the time am I successful accomplishing what I was trying to do?"

"60 - 70%"

"Ok, how much time do YOU spend analyzing and worrying?"

"A LOT!"

"And, what percentage of the time are you successful?"

"Almost 100%"

"So at the end of the day, we are often both successful, but I just have spent much less mental energy in the process. 70% eh? That was about my grade point average throughout school and college..."

This recent interchange between my wife and I one Shabbos morning illustrated the different approaches we have to problem solving. I am 100% pure energy with some minimal simplistic thinking, and my wife is 100% brilliant analysis with a lot of second guessing of her analysis. Each one of these approaches on its own may become a recipe for disaster, but put together - the decisiveness with the careful analysis - ensures that we make excellent decisions more often than naught.

5 Comments:

At May 29, 2008 at 8:25:00 AM EDT, Blogger Leora said...

Nice to have a spouse that does things in a complementary way. It helps us maintain balance. Thanks for sharing.

 
At May 29, 2008 at 8:47:00 AM EDT, Blogger A Simple Jew said...

A somewhat related quote from the Kotzker Rebbe can be found here

 
At May 29, 2008 at 10:47:00 PM EDT, Anonymous Anonymous said...

ASJ, are you saying that neither of you goes and does something important without the two of you first reaching a consensus? Do you find that your initial proposed decisions tend to coincide despite the two methodologies, or does there usually have to be a process of compromise?

 
At May 30, 2008 at 6:35:00 AM EDT, Blogger A Simple Jew said...

Bob: No, there are certainly times we act with out consulting each other.

As for your second question, I find that my wife usually gives me insight on a better way of going about something, and I in turn give her the confidence she needs to know that she made a correct decision.

 
At June 2, 2008 at 8:35:00 AM EDT, Blogger yitz said...

your description of yourself doesn't really come through in the blog.. weird.

 

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