Rae Marie and Fred Bostrom had been debating whether or not to buy a car for nearly four years “for crying out loud.” Just a few hours after Fred read You Are What You Decide: Eight Keys to Better Decision-making, they made a decision and now have a beautiful new car, which they love.
Fred and Rae were so excited that they emailed to explain how the Eight Keys helped them to stop procrastinating and make an important decision. As Rae said: “We’d been weighing this decision for a long time. The Eight Keys helped to confirm our choice and then — crucially — to act and buy the car.”
Key 2: Know explicitly what you are trying to achieve
Fred explains: “Sean, I am now quite familiar with your Eight Keys to Better Decision-making. I have read through your book twice plus gone back several times to check on some of the Keys. I also listened very closely to your informative overview at RiverRead Books. One of the points you made is that in making any decision, just one or two of the Keys may prove decisive.
“For Rae and me, Key 2 — Know explicitly what you are trying to achieve — was most decisive in our decision to buy a Subaru Crosstrek Hybrid. Safety was the most important criterion. Safety included getting up and down our steep driveway and then making our way along the hilly, sometimes snow- or ice-covered 0.8 mile between us and the main road. There were other criteria as well: we wanted the car to be environmentally up-to-date and have the right carrying capacity.
“We constructed a simple decision matrix, ranked the criteria and captured the supporting evidence (see below). The Cross Trek Hybrid scored high on all criteria and we knew it was the right car for us. After four years of indecisiveness, the whole process took us just a few hours. We are completely satisfied with this very important decision.”
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Fred & Rae’s Decision Matrix
First consideration: SAFETY
- All wheel drive.
- Glow-in-the-dark chartreuse color makes the car visible to other drivers. (Yellow would have worked even better, but there were no yellow models at this time )
- Back up camera.
- High ground clearance which is essential when driving through deep, unplowed snow.
- Open moonroof provides safe and better ventilation for our dog Pepper if parked for a short time.
- The CVT transmission plus electric power of the hybrid provides a more powerful pickup when entering traffic or passing on a two-lane highway.
Second consideration: ENVIRONMENTALLY UP TO DATE
- The Subaru hybrid at this time cannot be as fuel efficient as the Toyota Prius. It is an all wheel drive all the time. This feature which makes the car safe in snow, ice and slippery conditions, also uses more fuel. Because it has a higher road clearance, it has more air resistance which also causes it to be less fuel efficient.
- In town driving of stop and go mileage is better than other Subaru models because it is a hybrid.
- Hybrids have less CO2 emissions.
Third consideration: CARRYING CAPACITY
- A sedan was immediately eliminated due to the “well” as a trunk. That would mean we as older people would have to lift heavy items from the trunk, rather than sliding them out in a high little-bending comfortable position.
- The five door vehicle meant that the trunk area was much better for hauling pails of leaves, wood chips, groceries, boxes, etc. without flattening the back seats.
- A five door with back seats that flatten makes it easy to haul long items like skis, lumber, fence posts or four snow tires that take up a lot of space.