BUILDING SOUND DECISION-MAKING SKILLS

The road to excellence is paved by those who are decisive in their thinking. Your ability to make sound decisions can be one of the most life-enhancing skills you can ever possess. Good decision making empowers your future and leads you closer to your goals.
Think of it this way: Your life is a reflection of the decisions you’ve made. The aspects of your life that are going well can be traced to good decisions you’ve opted for somewhere along the line. The opposite can be said for the areas that are problematic or lacking; these reflect poor decisions made.
Here are three approaches to decision making:
1. Decisions based on intuition are commonly made in emergency situations or when a quick response is needed and there’s no time to think. Intuition also comes into play when you simply have a hunch about something. For example, you may choose to change a flight when traveling or take a different route on a road trip because you have a feeling the outcome will be more favorable. Intuition is like a silent partner that helps guide and protect you and can be developed through training and practice.
2. Some decisions are made through consensus build-ing. In this case, you research and compile information to build the foundation for your decision. Decisive individuals take the time to see their decisions clearly and have a full understanding of them. Have you ever signed a contract without reading or really comprehending it? Was it too long, in small print, or riddled with unfamiliar legal terms? In that case, you didn’t properly build consensus first. In the future, if you don’t understand something, don’t make a move until you’re clear. Ask questions. This may include speaking with the appropriate experts in the field; for example, you wouldn’t seek the opinion of a plumber if you needed to make a decision about life insurance. When you learn to make decisions through building consensus, you can be sure to eliminate life-wasting problems.
3. Some decisions are best made through delegation. In this case, you defer to someone more knowledgeable and trust their expertise. For example, I would ask a professional pool cleaner to decide the best way to clean my pool rather than offer suggestions myself. Medical professionals routinely consult with other physicians, knowing that right decisions leads patients to good health and a poor decision can send someone to the morgue.
All decisions are followed by consequences; some-thing will happen as a result of each decision you make. When you don’t put effort or care into the process, your decisions are made by default. This is a sure way to attract stress and worry into your life.
Sadly, many people make choices without really thinking through the consequences beforehand. I am amazed at the effort people put into decisions that have minimal impact on the big picture. They rifle through their closets searching for the perfect outfit and study the menus before ordering in a restaurant, but impulsively accept a credit card offer or choose a dentist randomly from the Internet without any due diligence.
To fully consider the consequences of a decision, ask yourself the following four questions:
1. What will happen if I do?
2. What won’t happen if I do?
3. What will happen if I don’t?
4. What won’t happen if I don’t?
Make a list of all the answers you can think of under each category. It’s a good idea to start this list as soon as possible since generally you can gain clarity as time goes on. Procrastination is never a good practice, especially when it comes to decision making! Once you’ve made a decision, you may need to sleep on it in order to see if you’ve had any change in perspective.
We must take the time to fine tune our decision-making skills. One great way is to make sure we are in the best shape possible—mentally, physically and spiritually. All three of these areas affect our emotional state, and since many of our decisions are emotionally based, it only seems obvious. When we place value on mental, physical and spiritual ethics, we become empowered. When we feel empowered, we are more confident, which leads to making sound decisions.
By giving your decisions the attention and energy they deserve, you will find you have more time for the things that really matter in your life. Remember this, every decision you make brings you closer to or further from victory, so it’s important to decide wisely.