Toolbox Tips: The Decision Buckets Tool
Decision buckets can be used in almost any situation and with any age or population. Anytime you are struggling in your thoughts about what to do, the buckets can direct decision making. By breaking your dilemma into three choices, you stop worrying about negative outcomes, and address your best choice.
Here’s how it works.
Picture three buckets ranging from small to large next to each other.
The small bucket is for little problems that need not require your energy. Rate your problem using a ten-scale. If the issue is below a four on the importance scale, you need not figure out what to do. The let it go bucket directs you to quickly release insignificant worries or frustrations. This small bucket includes difficult situations, not patterned problems. Directing yourself to “let it go” creates a quick habit of not getting easily stirred up.
Small bucket items include:
Noticing a rude person while driving or out in your community
Momentary errors
A negative attitude from someone who is typically in a good mood
An irritation that is an exception to the norm
Delays or pivots around unimportant events
Daily things that are out of your control
Resolved situations from the past
The let it go bucket keeps your backpack light, so you don’t use it like a junk drawer!
The medium bucket is for problematic patterns that require a solution. These are situations that continue to arise, requiring more than a quick discard. Using similar scoring, they are moderate in size, typically affecting you between a four and seven on the problem ten-scale. Because they are repetitive in nature, these problems require a specific solution on your end.
A good example of a medium bucket item is a repetitive interaction pattern that is offensive in your relationship. It is not an isolated bad mood, but a pattern of interactions that requires a conversation for understanding and solution. Talking through this unhelpful pattern in your relationship may be the solution you seek. The “do my part” bucket choice encourages you to open up and solve the problem quickly, rather than waiting for months or years, causing resentment and anger.
Examples include:
Communication patterns that need adjusting
Work protocols that need improving
Friendship irritation patterns that can be resolved simply
Small parenting issues that arise, needing solutions
The large “follow your plan” bucket is for problems that are not going to be solved with a conversation or one-time solution. This bucket directs you to accept that the problem is big enough to require a systematic plan to follow and practice over time. This bucket often involves the help of another person for systematic change.
Big bucket examples include:
Starting counseling for personal or relationship unhappiness
Changing a lifestyle issue (like necessary weight loss)
Recovery from a health issue
Grief or loss
Working through heavy emotional pain from a life transition
Panic attacks, depression, or pervasive disorders that linger
Each of these items require an extended process that needs a patient and systematic plan. When you direct yourself toward choice you can drop that issue in the correct bucket and execute resolve. Know your buckets and use them to organize your boundaries.