Decision making dilemmas?

Something my clients often talk to me about is a fear of making the wrong decision, or, a fixation with making the right one. Same same, but different. Fear or fixation, the end result is often similar - you stay stuck.

Sometimes there may be undesirable outcomes, but they don’t necessarily mean you made a bad decision. Much of what happens after making a decision is out of our control and unpredictable, so if you find yourself in a pickle don’t automatically assume your decision making skills are sketchy.

Let’s start focusing more on SMART decisions rather than good ones.

Decision-making is hard, especially when the stakes are high, all of the options are complicated, or you aren't confident you can make the right call. But unless you are my almost 4 year old son, you are unlikely to make any *really* bad decisions.

Here are 4 tips for making smarter decisions:

1 - follow your heart and gut, but take your head with you. While it's important to carefully consider all your options and weigh the pros and cons, you often know all along what you need to do, and you're simply afraid to do it.

2 - get a second opinion, WITHOUT opinion shopping. Talk to someone you trust - a friend, family member, colleague, mentor (or me!) They may be able to offer insights or considerations that you hadn't thought of before.

3 - sleep on it. I have finally mastered the art of putting a little extra distance between my feelings and actions to avoid decisions based on emotion or impulse, and highly recommend you do too.

4 - back yourself! Making a decision - especially a big one - requires a level of confidence in yourself, your choices, and your ability to handle the outcomes. If you're feeling wobbly, it will show up all over the place and undermine your ability to make good, clear decisions.