Notes

Section 1
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TEACHER: Hello, and welcome. As we get started, let me ask you, how do people make decisions? Section 1. Well, as we start, we're going to analyze influences on people's decisions and we're going to describe the consequences of decision making. Later, we're going to list the steps in the
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decision making process. And we're going to finish by recommending the steps a person can take to address consequences caused by poor decision making. Are you ready to start? Well, how do we make decisions? In the past, what have you done? Have you asked a friend, a family member
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about what to do? Did you just flip a coin? Or did you put some thought and study pros and cons about doing something versus an alternative? There's many ways to make decisions. First, keep in mind that as individuals, we face decisions every day. And there's different type of decisions that we make.
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They can be routine decisions, decisions which are made on a daily basis. Like, since we wake up, what do I wear? Do I brush my teeth or not? Do I have breakfast or not? Things of that nature-- they require little or no thought. Now, impulse decisions, they're very quick decisions. They require little thought or planning.
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Friday night, you're at home-- somebody calls-- your friend-- you want to go out of town for the weekend. Well, you make the decision right then and there. And big decisions. These can be life changing. Think of getting married, having a child, changing schools, changing cities, changing jobs.
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Those type of events that commit you for a long time or the rest of your life. These require a lot of thought. They're very serious decisions. The more complex and life changing it is, the more thought you put into it. You may consult with other people, too. You may use a [? structured ?]
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decision making process versus just treating it as an impulse decision and just going out on a limb and deciding what to do. You have to be very careful not to confuse big decisions and treat like impulse decisions. Remember, you are committing the rest of your life in some of these big decisions. Now the factors influencing decisions.
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Well, we're going to talk about internal influences and external influences. Before we jump into that, I want to tell you that influences can promote or inhibit decision making. As we get into details, you'll figure it out why. Internal factors. Attitude. Well, how do we see decision making?
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Do we see it as a threat to our status quo, so we don't like making decisions? Or we see it as an opportunity for something new or an improvement in our life? That's our attitude towards decision making. Our emotions-- when we're facing a decision, are we upset? Are we excited?
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Are we sad? Are we angry? What are our emotions and are they controlling us, or do we have control over them? Let's say you're in an argument with a friend or with your boyfriend/girlfriend. If you are too emotional and the emotions overwhelm you because you're upset, you may end [? of ?] the relationship.
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Well, do you want to put emotions aside and think about the situation? Maybe give it some time so your emotions settle down and then make that decision? Especially with important decisions, you want to make sure that emotions don't control you. You want to put thought, think what is the best for all of the parties involved-- including yourself--
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the consequences, and then make the decision. Now values, goals, and objectives. What are those? Do you keep them in mind when you make a decision? Let's say you're at a party. Somebody invites you to have alcohol, or tobacco, or do something against your health. Well, if you are aligned with your goals, values, and
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priorities. Let's say you want to do good at school. You want to take good care of your body. OK? And your values tell you that you shouldn't be doing those things, you're going to say no thank you. Otherwise, you're going to decide to go and have that cigarette and compromise this.
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Ethics, the way that we live our life. Very similar, the decisions that we make. Let's say if I'm going to spread a rumor. Well, is it good for the other individual? Does that goal align with my ethics, or not? Think of that. Think of the decisions that you've made in your life and how these align or not with your ethics, your values,
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goals, and priorities. Now external factors-- let's talk about family. Well, our family raised us. Our parents raised us. They told us things. They gave us their experience and their perspective on things.
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So that's going to have a direct influence when we are making decisions. Where it's a routine decision about what we eat, well, my family has always eaten healthy. Do I want to eat junk food or not? Things of that nature. Or on the more life-changing decisions, do they have an influence.
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Peers-- keep in mind peer pressure, positive and negative peer pressure. So friends may influence you to decide to do things that compromise your health. So you may want to keep that in mind before you make that decision. The media--
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TV, radio, the internet, the movies. What people do, how people act, what people like. Those are going to be absorbed by you. So that's going to be an influence when you're doing something. How you talk to people, what words you use, the behavior that you exhibit, the clothes that you wear. So think the influence that media has on you.
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Now, society and culture-- well, the traditions, the religious belief, society expectations, and the current trends are going to influence you, too. Let's say you're in a bus. And there's an old lady standing, and you're sitting. Well, society's expectation is that you're going to stand up, and you're going to give the seat to the
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lady in some countries. In some other countries, that's not the case, so you keep seated and you let the old lady keep standing. So see how society and culture have an influence there? And lastly, economic factors-- well, here, what can you afford? If you're going to buy a car, can you just afford a used car?
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Or do you have the ability to finance a new car? So that is also going to have an influence on your decision. Impact of decisions-- keep in mind, just like we said earlier, we make decisions throughout our entire life, every day. Every decision has consequences, too. So the consequences can affect not only us but also others. They can be immediate or long lasting.
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For example, if I eat something that is too spicy, well, I'm going to start feeling sick immediately if I don't have the tolerance for it. If I eat junk food for long periods of time, my health is also going to compromise. The impacts of our decisions can be positive, negative, or a combination of both. And let's talk about an example here.
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We make the decision that we want to earn higher grades. Well, we start studying for them, we start getting higher grades. The consequences of it-- well, because we had to commit more time in order to get the higher grades, we have less free time, because we spend it studying. But our parents are going to be happier with us.
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That may give us benefits. We may borrow our dad's car when we couldn't before. We may be able to stay out later or have a longer curfew-- things of that nature. And another consequence of it is that by having better grades, we are accepted to an honors program. So see how you compromise on some things, but you gain
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other things? Summarizing-- well, we said that we make decisions every day. Some are big. Some are small. Keep this in mind. Recognize them and treat them accordingly. You have to recognize, also, that many factors influence
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your decisions. Keep those influences in mind, especially when you're making big decisions. And remember, every decision that you make is going to have an impact not only on yourself, sometimes, but also on others. And the impact of it can be short term and long term, too. In the next section, we're going to be talking about a
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decision making process that you can use for work, for personal things, for school-- in every context. Thank you.
Section 2
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TEACHER: Hello and welcome again. Let's continue talking about decision making process. What steps do you take before making a decision? You may have your own approach already. But let me show you one that may work better for you. Section two, earlier we analyzed influences on people decisions. And we described the
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consequences of decision making. Now, we're going to list the steps in the decision making process. And later, we're going to recommend the steps a person can make to address consequences caused by poor decision making. Let's focus on today's objectives. Decision making process, well, we said that every decision we
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make is going to have consequences, some of the minimum, some of them life-altering for us and others. Well, having and using a decision making process is going to make these decisions, no matter how big they are, easier. And the decision making process is nothing but a series of steps that enables us to make a healthy and
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effective decision. Now, what approach are we going to follow? We're going to follow the STRONG approach. And it entails state, think, rate, organize, narrow, and going for our decision. We're going to talk about each of them shortly. State, we want to state the issue. What are the circumstances we're facing?
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What decisions can we make based on the circumstance? Are we being offered to join an athletic club at school? Are we being offered a scholarship at school? Are we being asked to move out of town with our family? What are the situations that we're facing? What decisions does it take? Think about it, think about and list our options. Well, think about the many potential options, not just
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think about one single alternative. Put the different alternatives on the table. For example, I'm being asked to go on a weekend trip with my friends. And I do have to study. And I do have certain other things that I need to do at home. Well, do I just have to say no to my friends and
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just to stay at home? Or can I rearrange my weekend so I can do the activities that I have to do at home and school and then join my friends later? See that there's many different approaches rather than just saying forget about school and family, and I'll just go with my friends. So lay out all the potential alternatives
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that you may have. What alternative is the most important? What choices could you potentially make as we stated? And what are the possible alternative outcomes? When presented with a situation, we don't need to make a mistake to learn from it. You can always see friends, family, or even research online when people faced similar situations to you,
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let's say, being asked to do something that you should not be doing, like drinking alcohol underage. What will be the consequences of that? What consequences have people, friends, people you know, relatives experienced? What are the consequences? Do some research. You don't need to make a mistake in order to learn.
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Rating, rate the consequences for each option. Use the word health to direct you. Well, health stands for healthy. Is the decision going to affect my health or promote my health? Let's say that I decide to join the gym. That decision, if I decide to commit to it, is going to improve my health.
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It's going to make my cardiovascular system stronger. It may allow me to lose a couple of pounds. Is it good for me or not good for me? Is it ethical? When I'm being offered with an option, let's say if I'm offered to steal, or if I'm offered to join a gang at school that is doing certain bad things, is it an ethical
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even a legal situation that I'm putting myself in? My parents, would they approve or disapprove of what I'm doing? Keep this in mind. Write your alternatives based on that. If you need to add additional criteria to it, add criteria to it. But this is the fundamental rating criteria that you
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should use. Organize your thoughts, as you're ready to narrow down your decisions and come to a decision and act on it, you want to make sure that it's aligned with your values and your code of ethics. Narrowing down, at this step, we already weighed the different alternatives. We know that those alternatives are aligned with
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what we expect, with what we want to do. Well, we want to choose the best possible option for us and anyone else involved. Are we going to affect other people positively or negatively? At this point, we make the decision. And we go for it. We do what we committed to.
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Going, well, once we acted on the decision, let's say that we joined the academic program at school, did I get the intended outcome? Did I get the higher grades? Or am I keeping the grades as I'm expected to to join that program? Were there are any unintended consequences? Was I expected to join the program and maintain that
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academic level without sacrificing leisure time at home or with my friends? Do I need to make necessary changes? Do I need to stop the spending as much time as I do with my friends in order to focus to school as I should? Those are the things that you want to go over. You can, at this point, also put it in perspective and realize that things aren't coming out the way you wanted.
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Or if you need to put additional effort, or if you need to change the decision in the worst case scenario. Now, making decisions together, especially when you're facing a life-altering decision, a big decision or a decision that affects others, well, don't do it in isolation. Seek advice from somebody that has gone through it, or somebody you respect, a family member, a relative, a friend.
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Collaborate with the people, especially if you're affecting other people with your decision. Example, my father, a long time ago, was offered a job in another city. It was more money. He was excited about it. But before taking the job, he came to my mom, and my sister, and myself.
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We put it on the table. We weighted the pros and the cons of moving to that new town. We decided not to as a team, as a family. We collaborated and decided that the best decision was to stay in town. At this point, it was the best decision. Summarizing, today we shared with you the STRONG approach.
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What does it entail? State, think, rate, organize, narrow, and go over your decision. Remember, this applies to big decisions. But it can be also used on the everyday decision. Obviously, you spend less time. They're less complicated. But it is important for you get familiar and know that
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this tool is available for you there when you need it. Now, in the future, what we're going to talk about is, how to address the consequences when we make a decision that has negative consequences to us or others. Thank you.
Section 3
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TEACHER: Hello and welcome to this last section on decision making. What do you do if you make a bad decision? Section three, Decision Making. Earlier in the lesson, we analyzed influences on people's decisions. And [? we ?] described the consequences of decision making.
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We also list the steps in the decision making process-- the STRONG approach. Well, now, we're going to recommend the steps a person can take to address consequences caused by poor decision making. Let's focus on this last objective, making poor decisions. As we look back into our decision and its consequences,
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we may feel that a better decision could have been made. Why do we make poor decisions? Well, the decision was made impulsively. We didn't think about what we're doing, and we just went for it. We did a decision under the influence of our emotion. We were upset. We were too excited when we made the decision.
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Those emotions can have a lot of weight on a decision, and they can compromise the decision as we make it. The impact on others was overlooked. We thought only of ourselves. We didn't think of our friends or of our family or of strangers when we decided to do something. And ultimately, the decision making process wasn't followed, or there was no decision
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making process at all. Now poor decisions-- some of the consequences. First, there's internal conflict. We're going to feel embarrassed, we're going to feel humiliated, but on the worst case, we can put ourselves or some other people in danger. Now, how do we correct poor decisions?
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Well, we can follow a very simple approach-- Stop, Think, and Go. Very straightforward, three steps. We'll talk about them in detail shortly. Stop-- well, first you have to stop and admit that a poor decision was made. At this point, you realize that there was something
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better that could have been done. It is very important for you to take responsibility for your actions. Don't blame others. Don't lie to get out of the situation clean. Think-- think about who you can talk to. Use a support.
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People care for you. Use them to help you out-- make the better decision this time. Your parents can help, teachers and school counselor, friends. Even authorities can help you make up for your mistakes. Tell them what the decision was originally and what the consequences have been so far.
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Let's say if I decided to take something from a store-- let's say I stole something. Well, I can talk to my parents. They can tell me what is the best approach to follow to return the item and accept the consequences. You want to discuss the options to correct the situation. One thing that is important if you're getting other people
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involved, you want to be honest and up front with them. Don't distort the truth, because it's going to come out. Things can be a lot worse if you try to cover your traces. Go-- go and do your best to correct the problem. [? Assume ?] responsibility, but also commit yourself
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to remedy the situation. Leave the situation if necessary. Tell about an unsafe situation. Let's say that you are in the middle of an argument of a large group of people. This can escalate into a fight very easily. Well, you got excited at the beginning. You were part of the discussion.
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But then you realized, this is not for me. I don't want to get in trouble. This is not good for anybody. Well, get out of the situation. Call the authorities. Try to prevent that escalation from taking place. If you hurt somebody-- let's say that you did a prank joke on somebody--
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apologize and try to remedy the situation with that person. Ultimately, learn from your mistake, not only from yours, but from others as well. You don't need to make a mistake to learn that things are bad. And if you did something wrong already for you or for others, well, don't make it again, please.
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We all make mistakes. And we realize that admitting to a poor decision can be difficult, because we immediately know that we're going to get in trouble. We're going to get in trouble with our parents, with teachers, or even with the authorities. There may be consequences that we would rather not face, like paying a fine, being grounded for a weekend or for life,
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having to pay a fine, or going to jail. People is going to be upset, disappointed, and angry at us. They may stop talking to us for a while. Feel better in the long run, though, because if you're correcting the situation, you're going to adhere to your values and your ethics. And you're going to do what is right, and you're preventing something from turning even worse.
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Summarizing, we make a poor decision, there's consequences, what can we do about it? Stop, think, and go. Take responsibility for your actions, remedy the situation, move on with life. Now in this lesson, what did we cover? We talked about decision making. We talked that decisions can be routine, imposed, or big
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life-altering decisions. We talked about the influences when we make decisions-- internal and external. And we told you that every decision has consequences, which is probably something that you already knew. As far as decision making process, we gave you this tool called the STRONG approach to decision making. It can be used on big decisions, even
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on the small decisions. Ultimately, this tool allows you to put on the table all the different options, rank them along each other in your [? objectives, ?] and make sure that what you're doing is aligned with your values and your ethics. And if it's an important situation that you're trying to make a decision on or if it involves other people, you
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want to make sure that you get them involved and you can make decisions together. You don't need to make a decision in isolation. Lastly, if you just made a poor decision or if you made a poor decision on the past that is haunting you, there's always going to be consequences. But if you want to correct the situation, you want to do the Stop, Think, and Go approach.
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We all have made mistakes. We all are sometimes exposed to decisions that may not-- the decision may not be the most effective one at the time. Well, there's always opportunity for us to go and rectify on them. Here, we're teaching you how to make decisions. If you didn't know how to do it better, now you have
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a tool to do so. And if you realize that you did something that could have been done better, we also gave you the tool to go and remedy the situation. I hope you learned something out of this and your life is shaped based on good decisions from now on. Thank you.