How do you decide between two or more courses of action?
Whether trivial, worthwhile or life-changing, we all need to make decisions and approach this process in different ways.
Some people make the decision-making process look easy, as they are able to make decisions with certainty and little dilemma. Whereas other people struggle with the decision-making process, similar to an excruciatingly painful tooth extraction.
What does your decision-making process involve?
#1 - Fate
You have a ‘lucky’ coin which you flip and let fate decide, as life is too short to worry.
#2 - Best Case/Worse Case
You identify the best-case scenario, aka your pipe dream, and the worst-case scenario, aka an apocalypse, before making a decision.
#3 - Advice
You take an ‘advisors advise, but directors decide’ approach. E.g. You seek advice from others and then make the final decision.
#4 - Pros and Cons
You write a 15-point list of pros and cons, ensuring that you have all of facts available to you to make an informed decision.
# - Intuition
You trust your ‘inner compass’ and go with your gut instinct.
#6 - Mixed Bag
You make a decision based on a mixture of sound reasoning and intuition.
Our decision-making process is affected by a number of factors...
For many of us, our decision-making process is affected by a number of factors, including the level of importance of our decision and our emotional state; therefore, we should strive to make decisions when we are in a balanced frame of mind.
Whatever your process, a degree of commitment needs to be demonstrated, in order for your decision to be implemented effectively.
Take Action
Once you have made your decision, identify your level of commitment.
What is your level of commitment (i.e. 0 = unsure – 10 = fully committed) to the course of action that you have identified?
If it is not yet a 10, what would make it a 10?
If you are unable to think of any actions to increase your level of commitment closer to 10, perhaps it is worth reflecting on whether you have made the correct decision…