Your Decisions are Critical for Success

How good are you at making decisions? How do you know if you ar? Well, some people seem to make decisions very quickly, and others seem to take forever. Which method is the best? In general I believe being decisive is a very good thing, in other words being able to quickly weigh your options and decide what seems to be the best choice. Look at it this way, if you are the type of person who can never seem to make up their mind, doesn't it make your decisions that much harder and painful? So what is the real problem, is it fear of making the wrong decision maybe? I believe in most cases, that is the case.

What if you make the wrong decision and it causes problems? Well that is always possible, but not making a decision in the first place is normally worse than making a bad decision. Let me explain that, because I'm sure that doesn't sound logical. Say I put off making a choice of whether I should take a new job that a friend told me about recently. He says it would be different than what I'm doing now, although some of the same skills are involved and I do qualify in many ways for this job. Ok, I'm thinking I "kind of" like my current job, so what are the benefits of the new job that would tempt me? Well, in order to make an informed decision about anything you must weigh the benefits versus the drawbacks. Make a list and take into account your personal choices and how important different aspects of each item on the list really are. As an example of the job:nn* - good thing - the pay is slightly highe
* - bad thing - it's in the city and I'm not crazy about thatn* - good thing - the company is doing well, my current employer isn'tn* - good thing - it's something different, shake up my life a littlen* - bad thing - it's different, and I may not like doing it

Ok, you see where I'm going with this right? These are all totally hypothetical reasons which I just made up, but very possibly things you may have to decide in the future. You also have to thing about the intangibles, such as what if you don't take this job and then get laid off from your current job? Are you by nature a risk-taker or do you look for the security first in any new position? If you value security and safety, perhaps staying at your current job is more prudent because at least it's a known factor. Not knowing what is going to happen is pretty scary for a lot of people and not worth the risk. I guess if you are going to lie awake at night worrying about the job situation, it might be a bad idea.

Alright, that's just a hypothetical situation. But if you have a real problem making important decisions about your future, perhaps you need to evaluate why that is true. Some people just don't like to make decisions. If that's the case, I suggest you try to change that, since making decisions in life is a very critical skill that every adult needs to have. Are you really that afraid of making the wrong decision? What's the worst that could happen, you will have to change your mind and maybe lose a little time, money, etc. in the process. Back to reality, folks. We all have made bad decisions at one time or another! We just have to learn from them, that's all. Try to figure out why it was a bad decision, what brought you to that decision, and how you would change that next time. Did you weight all the options first? Did you go with your "gut" instinct, because usually that is the best way to go, although not always. Perhaps you have a friend that is knowledgeable about the situation you're in and asking him or her would be beneficial.

Ok, one more point - sometimes it's a great idea to take a chance, take advantage of an opportunity, and just go for it. If your decision is anything about that kind of situation, I say go for it. But that's just me...

To your continued success and happiness!