If you look at what psychologists consider to be high-level stressors, you’ll find a list of about 40 life events. We have no control over many of these events, but for more than half, we do, depending on our choices. These stressful life events include a change in residence, schools, or eating habits. So much of our success in life depends on the decisions we make. Some decisions are easy and don’t require much thought. Other decisions, such as which college to attend or job to take, may not be quite so easy. For this reason, it’s necessary to sharpen your decisionmaking skills so that when faced with a tough choice, you can make an informed decision.

In this module, you will learn why it is often necessary to make big decisions, how to make an informed decision, and why deciding on one option always causes you to give up something else.

After completing this lesson, you will be able to

• define scarcity;
• use a PACED decisionmaking model to define the problem, list alternatives, state criteria, evaluate alternatives according to your stated criteria, make a decision; and
• identify the opportunity cost of a decision.