Decision Making Log + Analysis

TYLER NEFF
EL 601
06/05/2022
INTRODUCTION
This log was from Friday, June 3rd.
We went to the State track and field
meet in Columbus to recruit. There
were 3 meets that day, 3 more the
next day so we stayed the night.
Throughout the day, a made note of
each decision I made as the day
went on, then formatted it after the
meet. Here’s how it went:
THE LOG

Timeframe: Decision to Be Made: Outcome:

Morning and ride:
Wake up - get out of bed at 6AM? Got up… at 6:15am…
Shower? Yep.
Shave? Nah..
Getting dressed, what to wear? Already had close picked out. Decided last night.
Brush teeth, do hair? Always.
Stop at sheetz or B&B for breakfast? Didn’t have time, didn’t want to be late… Going to be hungry.
Sit in back or fight for shotgun (which I already called…) Didn’t feel like fighting over it.. Sat in the back.
Stopped at Gas station: snacks? Yes please. Decided on a protein bar and gaterade.

At the meet:
Where to sit? Decided top row with a nice view.
Suncreen? It was HOT out. Lot's of sunscreen.
THE LOG (PART 2)
Timeframe: Decision to Be Made: Outcome:
D3 meet:
Should I go talk to recruits? *
Should I go talk to coaches? *
Concessions? No. I don’t have money. Really want Dip and Dots though…
Go find the Fairless People? Yeah, needed to say hi. Also recrutiing a couple of them.
Meet over, should I talk to new recruits or current? *
Lunch, where to? Decided on Canes. No one contested (even though it was a walk)

Canes (Lunch):
What to order? Caniac combo. Extra bread instead of slaw. My go to.
Need BBQ sauce, McDonalds next door? Yeah.. I went next door just for sauces. Was worth it.
Pop. How many of these should I drink? Already drank 1…. Took another for the road.

*At this point in the day, the day was kind of crazy. It was very impulsive in
terms of going around and talking to people. We talked to probably 100 people
over the course of the meet, came and went from our seats. Hard to clearly log
each interaction as it was really just "whenever we needed to talk to someone
we went."
THE LOG (PART 3)
Timeframe: Decision to Be Made: Outcome:
D2 meet:
Same seats? Yeah. Had a pretty good spot.
Suncreen again? Yes. Was even hotter out.
talk to recruits? Coaches? **

D1 meet:
talk to recruits? Coaches? ***

**Again, similar to the D3 meet, just came and went and talked to a recruit,
parent, coach, friend, anyone, whenever the opportunity arose.

*** Same thing, that’s the nature of recrutiing at the state meet.
THE LOG (PART 4)
Timeframe: Decision to Be Made: Outcome:
After meets, Hotel:
which bed should I take? The bed by the AC, always.
Shower, get dressed. What to wear? Torn between shorts and jeans. Went shorts. (high 60's out still)
Hair and brush teeth? Absolutely.
Bring a hoodie? I did. Didn’t want to carry it all night but it was worth it later.
where for dinner? We decided on a local place. Short walk from hotel.

Dinner:
What to order? Got a pizza and mac and cheese. Was really good.
Meeting with alumni, stay here, or go elsewhere? Decided we would meet some alumni at the "Short North"
Uber or walk? 2 mile walk. Hate driving in cities. Definitely Ubered.

Uber ride:
Where to sit? Called shotty. No one complained.
Smalltalk or ride in silence?.. Tried to talk to the guy. Wasn’t really having it.
THE LOG (PART 5)
Timeframe: Decision to Be Made: Outcome:
Short North:
Where to? Found a little place close to where we were dropped off at.
Place is packed. Too loud. Different place? Decided that was not the move.
New place seems nice. Stay here? Found new place, stayed there for a while. Then left.
New New place is also nice. Time to go? It was getting late. Time to go.
Uber back or walk? Ubered back. Not walking 2 miles.

Bedtime, Hotel:
Washface, contacts, brush teeth? Absolutely.
Set alarm for tomorrow? Unfortunately… time for bed.
Done.
MY DECISION-MAKING PROCESS
VAST MAJORITY OF DECISIONS WERE
MADE BASED ON WHAT HAD TO BE
DONE.
OTHER DECISIONS WERE BASED ON WHILE THE DECISION-MAKING
WHAT I WANTED AT THE TIME. PROCESS SHOULD INCLUDE
THOUGHT, WEIGHING ALTERNATIVES,
AND CHOOSING THE BEST OUTCOME,
MOST OF MY DECISIONS DID NOT…
A LOT OF MY DECISIONS WERE
IMPULSIVE AND PERHAPS NOT EVEN
THOUGHT ABOUT UNTIL AFTER THEY
WERE MADE.
 My biggest strength was getting things
done that needed to be done. I knew what
I needed to do, and without thinking, I
could get the mission accomplished.

STRENGTHS
Another strength was delegation.
Sometimes in the moment if a lot of tasks
needed to be done in a short very window
of time, I was able to delegate tasks in
order to get everything done we needed
to.
 My greatest challenge was not planning things
out and just acting on impulse. Going to do
things when I felt like it or when it needed done
instead of thinking it through first. In addition,
just doing things because I wanted to do them
instead of thinking about what the group might
have wanted as a whole.
CHALLENGES
Another challenge I identified is that because I
am a rather independent person, instead of
working together or talking about my actions
and ideas, I would just do them often by myself.
This was only when I knew that I could do it
myself and didn’t see the need to split up the
workload.
 • From this experiment I learned that I am impulsive and don’t
always plan things out. But when a job needs done, I am quick on
my feet to complete it.

• I learned that many things I think are important in the moment

were in fact rather pointless in the grand-scheme of things.
CONCLUSIONS
• I already know I over-think things, I realized the bulk of my over-
thinking is typically only after they have happened.

• In conclusion, while I am glad that I can remain focused to

complete a task, better planning and organization of thoughts and
actions is something I should work to improve.