Much value is placed on being creative. And indeed this is key to building opportunities for success. But there’s the follow-up. The follow-up skill of decision-making trumps everything. It’s one thing to have novel ideas. It’s another to get them actualized. This process requires that you have to choose. And choose. And choose. Things are picked and things are discarded, or ignored. This process is often overlooked, and then in hindsight is completely taken for granted. Active choosing needs to be mastered. It’s learnable! Saying yes (i.e., discarding less) to too many options is a trap that may limit the ability to reach milestones in your quest towards reaching your maximum potential.
Active choosing is the way to focus. As the creative idea begins to take form, some things need to be eliminated. The measure of focus is how often you say no to something that comes up. By focusing, you end up doing less. Complexity decreases. This moves the process along because satisfaction now becomes a driver. Also by doing less, you can make those things that are being done even better. Defining the process. Narrowing the scope. In separating the wheat from the chaff, you decide which things are important and which are not. Gather information, identify alternatives, weigh evidence, choose, and most importantly take action.
Participating in numismatics is a way to develop the skills of efficiency by choosing and acting on your focused intent. In numismatics, it’s either coins or currency. Which country of origin? Which denomination? Which historical period or design type? Before you even get started, you have to say no a bunch of times, simply because one individual cannot collect it all. So, your journey in numismatics begins with choosing and focusing. It is a path to learning effective decision making.
Decision making is about making choices. First, you identify that a decision is to be made. Gather information, and assess alternative solutions. Skills for making good decisions include first and fore most understanding the problem. And it may not be a problem per say, but just a “fork in the road”. When you realize that there are different options ahead. No doubt this is a skill and it is learnable. Other skills include brainstorming solutions, and then evaluating the different options. An of course action.