Decision Support

Beginning with the goal you defined in week 2, progress to defining the criteria for success. What will be the measurements that tell you the decision is right? You should have three to four criteria, ranked in order of importance. This is similar to the Decision Maker exercise we did in Week 3. Based on your goal, what visible and tangible results will give you feedback on whether or not you are reaching your goal?

Example 1: If your goal is to choose a lot to build a house on, tangible results might be if the house fits the budget, the size requirements, and the location requirements

Example 2: If your goal is to select an investment option, tangible results might be the highest returns over the long run, flexibility regarding dates to retire, and availability for emergencies if necessary.

You should write your goal and your measurement criteria. A one-paragraph description should go with each measurement criteria. It is possible that some of your criteria may be preferences rather than financial or numeric results.

My goal is to stay healthy and loose weight

6 criteria that should be part of any successful diet plan.

1) Honesty:- Many diet plans are full of outrageous claims such as “rub this gel on your stomach and watch the fat melt away”. However, can you really trust a diet plan which makes such unrealistic claims? Losing weight is not easy and any diet plan which argues otherwise is likely to be fraudulent and ineffective. Try to look for diet plans which make more honest claims such as “lose 10 pounds in one month” as these are likely to be the ones that really work.

2) Evidence:- If a diet plan really is effective then there should be some clinical evidence which says so. Although clinical trials are not 100% foolproof (they may be sponsored by the diet plan company or the results may have been presented selectively to make the diet plan look more favourable) they are a good indicator of a diet plan’s effectiveness. By looking for diet...