Making Good Decisions

1.  Write down the Objective.

What is it you ultimately want to accomplish.  Get a new job, move or start a business is not specific enough.  The objective should be clearly stated in a way which describes the benefits of achieving the goal.  “I want to move to a warm climate where I can engage in outdoor activities year round and simply my life with a lower cost of living.”  VS “I want to move.”

2.  Collect Facts:  Good AND Bad

Do your Homework and gather all the information, good and bad, like and dislike.  You are not making the decision here, just a sound assessment of all your options for consideration.  There is no rush to get through this critical step.  Researcher Paul Nutt states, “Only 1 in 10 decisions is urgent. Only 1 in 100 is a crisis. You have time to reflect.”   The more time you take to gather all the information, the better your decision is likely to be.

3. List Possible Consequences of Decision

Brain storm all the possible outcomes of each decision and choice.  Detach from the emotion – focus on all the possibilities.  What would happen if? How would I feel if?   Listing extreme positives and negatives at this stage is a good idea.

4. Do a Gut Check

Now that you have completed the above steps, sit in a quiet spot where you will not be disturbed and visualize each scenario you have listed.  How does you gut feel?  Is your stomach in knots?  Is your heart beating with excitement?  Pay attentions to what your body is telling you and write it down.

5. Don’t Over Think

Avoid placing judgment on what you have written down.  Be open to the fact you might not know, what you don’t know.

6.  Make the Decision

Review the good work you have completed and tabulate what choice brings you the most favorable results, along with the most positive physical gut reaction.  These facts will lead you to the best choice.  remember, the best choice is not the perfect choice.  There is no perfect choice.

7. Stick with Your Decision

Once you have made your decision, trust the process.  Follow-through to the end, because you don’t want to give up 5 minutes before the miracle.

8.  Give Yourself Permission to Navigate the Unexpected

Be sensible in the sense you must give yourself permission to navigate differently in the event of an unexpected crisis.  Obviously ‘life is happening while you make other plans’, so know that even the best thought out plan will be altered in the face of earth quakes and funerals.

9.  Review and Assess

Take time to review and assess your progress often.  This will encourage you to continue when you are able to validate positive results, and tweak your direction as needed to maintain forward momentum.

10. No Regrets

Regardless of what you expected your decision to create, congratulate yourself that you made the best decision possible with the information you had available to you at the time.  There is not a person alive, and especially some of the greatest successes in history, who hasn’t had the opportunity to learn from a decision.

Following these 10 tips allows you to follow a logical process of consequences based on completion of each task.  The answers unfold naturally for you, rather than you struggling to make something fit where it does not belong.

Submitted by L.P.Sterling C.P.R.P.