3 Steps to Making Great Decisions

Decisions, decisions… Have you ever had a big (or small) decision to make, and you simply did not know what to do? So did you delay making the decision? Did you worry you would make the wrong decision? Did you feel pressured into making A decision? We’ve all been there. There will come a point in your life (actually, several points) where you will have to make a decision. There will be no way around it. And it will be hard.

I recently had a decision to make and I felt really torn. It was a choice between staying somewhere I knew and loved and was still adding value, and going somewhere new to stretch myself in a new area and use all the skills I had learned. It was a great opportunity, and I knew these opportunities didn’t come around every day. My stomach was in knots every time I thought about it. Which was a lot as you can imagine. And this is what I did…

Power of the Re-frame

I know I have talked about this before and I just have to talk about it again. The first thing I did was re-frame this “big decision” I needed to make into “wow, isn’t it exciting I have this opportunity? I now have an abundance of choice. Lots of people don’t have choices like this. How lucky am I?” Okay, so I needed to say this a couple of times before I really believed it… Simply looking at the same situation in a different way made the situation a little lighter and less scary. And it’s true. I am lucky to have choice. I felt very grateful and that seemed to ease the knot in my stomach.

Power of Purpose

I then looked at my “Why” – my reason for being. And, as I have shared before, I am passionate about helping people with change using simple mindset strategies. I also love being part of an amazing team achieving great things. Then I wondered, which choice brings me closer to this purpose? And which further away? And the cool thing about this bit is that it didn’t matter if I chose the option that took me further away – the point is I would be aware of how that choice impacted my purpose. Of course, choosing the option more aligned to my purpose sounded (to me) like a better idea. Your purpose is the bigger picture – which can make those “big decisions” seem quite small in comparison.

Trust

It was a good opportunity to re-visit my purpose and tweak it a little. It was then time to have full trust in myself that I would make the right decision. By “right” I don’t mean the most logically correct (heaven forbid…) but the one that was right for me. At that time. The great thing about this is that the only person who really knows what’s right for me is me. Which means… That’s right! It is IMPOSSIBLE to make a wrong decision. See? Even logic is on my side. And then I read this quote by Mary Oliver:

“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”

And I made the decision. And it felt easy. And it felt right.

So there you go – three easy steps to making the right decision:

1. First, re-frame it – look at it in another way that gives you choice and a sense of lightness
2. Think about your purpose. Which choice will move you closer to your purpose?
3. Finally, trust yourself. You WILL make the right decision

Have you ever had to make a big decision? Did looking at it in another way help? Could thinking about it in terms of our purpose or big picture help? What can you do today to trust yourself more? Feel free to share with a friend!