🤯 🤪 5 Tips For Making Good Decisions 🧠 👀

How do you make good decisions?  We make decisions every single day. These decisions range from the small and seemingly insignificant – what should I have for breakfast? – to potentially life-changing or high impact mind boggling challenging decisions related to work. Decision making may be the toughest part of leadership. You are responsible for crucial choices that affect the livelihood of so many people. Often, each dilemma is packed with conflicting information.

How to make a decision may not seem that important when it comes to the little stuff, but when it comes to how to make a big decision, the consequences are much more impactful.

When it comes to making tough decisions, not making a decision at all is the worst option. Even when you think you’ve made the wrong decision, you’ve learned a valuable lesson that will help you move forward armed with more information. Even if you’re not struggling to learn how to make a life-changing decision, you can still waste valuable time procrastinating on the little choices in life.

The definition of “Decision” actually has Latin roots. The meaning of the word “decide” comes from the Latin word, decidere, which is a combination of two words: de = 'OFF' + caedere = 'CUT'... So deciding means to make a choice from a number of alternatives or to cut off the one option from all those other options. and that's why it can sometimes feel scary. So sometimes, the methods we use to make decisions create challenges for us.

However, if we decide to follow a specific path to better our decision-making, we can overcome obstacles more quickly and achieve our end goal faster. Here are my 5 tips for making good decisions and to stop you from asking the question "How do I know if I am making the RIGHT decision?".

1. Make them sooner than you probably have been.

People who usually say, "Gillian, how do you make good decisions?” They’ve been waffling so long on making important decisions in their lives that now they’re in trouble. So, now it’s difficult to make a decision.

It’s usually easier to make a decision early on than it is later on as more trouble and responsibilities and bad things pile up. Suddenly we find ourselves behind.  Lots of people are mad at us and now you got to make a decision to placate or please a bunch of people. If you just made the decision earlier on it could have served you better.

If it’s a decision that’s good for you, make it sooner.

Usually, taking action sooner is better than later. Of course you should collect information, be insistent in collecting and analysing the right information, making right decision, being really smart.

But my gosh, our whole culture is in some kind of analysis paralysis now where people are scared to make bold decisions for themselves, to take fast actions that really move their lives forward because they’re scared of change. It goes without saying when possible, yes think through important decisions when you are well rested, clear-headed, and have the energy and motivation to dedicate to the task.  “It's not about making the right choice. It's about making a choice and making it right.” J.R. Rim

So, I think for most decisions, Make it. Stop putting it off, make the decision. Once you make it, stick to it. Try it, implement it, do it, see how it goes before changing or quitting so fast. Make that decision.

Theodore Roosevelt once said: 'In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing'.

I know you’ve got a decision in your personal life that you’ve been waiting to make. You got a decision even waiting to make at work. And often what we do is we put them off and that waiting become avoidance.

Avoidance feels great in the short term but in the long term it guarantees suffering. It only gets worse the longer you wait.

2. Write Everything Down On Paper

If you attempt to do everything in your head, or even on a screen, your brain will end up looping over the same things. Instead of getting resolution, every possible idea will create more stress because you’ll just go back to your first thought. Get out of your head! Putting everything on paper removes this pressure and helps you focus. Because energy flows where focus goes, this helps quiet the noise in your head and is essential for making tough decisions.

3: OCC – OUTCOMES, OPTIONS, CONSEQUENCES

One of my favourite decision making matrices was first introduced to me by Tony Robbins which involves looking at the OCC - the Outcomes, Options and Consequences and then the next step EMR - Evaluate,  Mitigate and Resolve. so let's go through it:

1. GET CLEAR ON YOUR OUTCOMES.

What’s the result you’re after? Why do you want to achieve it? You must be clear about your outcome(s) and its/their order of importance to you. Visualize your goals and make sure that whatever you choose to experience is aligned with your values and purpose. Without this clarity, making tough decisions just becomes more difficult. Remember, reasons come first; answers will come second. If you don’t know the reasons WHY you’re doing something, your brain will be sending you mixed signals and you won’t follow through. The first step towards making tough decisions is to get as specific as possible about what you want to get out of the process.

2. KNOW YOUR OPTIONS.

Write down all of your options, including those that initially may sound far-fetched. Remember: One option is no choice. Two options is a dilemma. Three options is a choice. Write down ALL possible options whether or not you like them.  You may even have some options you’re not aware of. It’s a good idea to get an outside perspective from someone who’s experienced a similar issue, like a mentor,a colleague or friend. Even if you don’t take their advice directly – it may not be right for you – an alternative viewpoint can still inform your decision. And the more options you have, the more confident you’ll be.

3. ASSESS POSSIBLE CONSEQUENCES

Now, look at what you’ve got. What are the upsides and downsides of each option? What do you gain by each option? What would it cost you? By fully evaluating possible consequences, you can better use fear before the fear  uses you or freezes you into indecision. If you’re clear on your goals and committed to your vision, you’ll know that even the direct consequences of making tough decisions are better than making no decision at all.