Every aspect of life requires you to make decisions. As you get older, the decision making process generally becomes easier because you gain experience. Valuable life experience will help you to make wise decisions quickly, without too much deliberation.
However, there will always be times when you make the wrong decisions or need some help to make big decisions. When this happens, you may lose confidence in your decision making abilities. Here’s how to practice making good decisions.
Don’t Overthink It
Every decision making process requires some thinking. To make wise decisions, you need to think things through. But, there’s also such a thing as too much thinking.
When you overthink, you can talk yourself out of making decisions that could be right for you. If you make the wrong decision, it may start to become a pattern, with you overthinking each time you need to make a decision. Think about it, ask for advice, and be decisive.
Look After You
The last thing you should be doing is making big decisions when you’re feeling stressed or burnt out. Making sure that you get enough rest and nutrition can have a positive effect on your mental clarity and give you a healthier lifestyle. Be sure to take time off work when you need to so you don’t become fatigued.
Get enough sleep by switching off devices an hour before going to bed and getting at least seven hours of rest. Drink plenty of water throughout the day and make time for some physical exercise.
Play Games
Yes, playing games is a fantastic way to practice making better decisions. Firstly, taking some time to relax and do something you enjoy puts you in a better frame of mind for making decisions. Secondly, playing games, like spider solitaire, requires you to make decisions.
You will quickly learn which decisions are good and which are bad, learning to play the game better each time. You can transfer these skills to any area of your life when you need to make decisions.
Refocus
There are many instances in life when decisions are linked to emotional situations. When you’re too close to the situation, it can be difficult to make a decision because you’re emotionally involved. Removing yourself from the situation can help you to refocus and gain clarity.
It’s a good way to view the situation from afar and see things from a different perspective. Taking a step back can help you to make an unbiased decision for the right reasons.
Learn From Your Mistakes
You don’t have to blame yourself or feel guilty about past mistakes but you do need to take responsibility for doing better in the future. Learning from your mistakes is an essential part of making good decisions. Getting better at decision making now and in the future means paying attention to the times when you get it wrong.
Don’t be afraid to make mistakes when it comes to making big decisions but be she to use your mistakes to do better moving forward.
Look At The Alternatives
Before you move forward with your decision, think about the alternative option. When you think about the outcome of different options, you can gain more confidence in your final decision. You may not know the exact outcome for sure as some decisions can be gambles.
However, experience should tell you the likelihood of the outcome of each choice. This will help you to make a decision you can be happy with.
Ask For Advice
Asking for advice when you have trouble making a decision is a great thing to do. However, don’t be quick to ask advice from just anyone. Asking anyone can lead to confusion and may sway your decision in the wrong direction.
Ask people who you trust to give their feedback on your thoughts. It can often help to ask people who are older than you and have more life experience. For example, a parent, grandparent, or employer.
Advise Yourself
Many people are guilty of avoiding their own good advice. Think about the advice you may give a friend if they were in your position. You may be surprised by the wisdom you carry with you for decision making.
Taking your own advice will allow you to remove yourself from the situation for long enough to examine it from a different view point. When you think about it from the perspective of advising someone else, you may find that you’re kinder to yourself than you usually would be.
Are There Consequences?
For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. When you make a decision, there are always consequences to your choice. The important thing to think about is whether you’re willing to deal with those consequences.
Even good decisions come with some consequences and you’ll need to be ready to face them. It’s also worth thinking about whether these consequences will be short or long term. For instance, the best scenario is often short term consequences with long term benefits.
Stay True To Yourself
Some decisions force us to question whether we’re willing to go against our beliefs. Your foundation and values make you who you are and nothing should persuade you to change that. In life, there will be many times when you’re tempted to give up part of yourself for something that looks better.
Most people end up regretting that decision. For instance, it could be moving to the city for a big promotion when you’re a country person at heart. It often leads to misery down the line and an inevitable change in direction. To make good decisions, you have to know yourself inside-out.
Take a Risk
Nothing good in life is without risk. Once you accept the fact that most decisions come with the possibility of failure, you’ll have an easier time making them. There’s no surety in any decision process so there will be plenty of times when you’ll need to take a leap of faith.
If it doesn’t work out, don’t let that dissuade you from making other decisions in the future. The biggest regrets of most people’s lives are the things they didn’t do.
Do Your Research
Just because you’re responsible for making the decision, it doesn’t mean you can’t follow a blueprint that’s already been set out for you. This is especially true when you’re making business decisions. There have been many CEOs who have come and gone before you and documented their decision making processes.
Learn from the best by studying their ways and adopting keys to success. Whether it’s watching them in interviews or reading their books, learning from your research will give you the information you need to make wise choices in business.
Grow As A Person
You may have noticed a link between people who don’t grow and making bad decisions over and over again. To continue making good decisions throughout life, you need to evolve. Evolving means learning in many different respects.
If you want to get off the same old roundabout, you need to be willing to mature. There are many ways to do this, including taking constructive criticism on board and using counseling as a method for growth.
Stay Healthy
The worst decisions are made under the influence of drugs and alcohol. When you’re inebriated, it’s impossible to make decisions with clarity and decisions are often made based on emotions. These intense emotions can change from one day to the next. Get help if addiction is affecting your life decisions.
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