“Just do it” are three small words that can bring so much joy and happiness into our lives if only we let them. However, decision making can also cause us significant amounts of stress and anxiety.
We have thousands of decisions to make every day – what to wear, what to say, what to eat, what bills to pay, what to drink, where to go, what words to put in that email, which meeting to attend in our busy diary, whether to fit in that gym session we have been promising to do….. Every one of these decisions will take our day down a different path.
Some decisions are easy and have very few consequences e.g. Do I have jam or marmalade on my toast?
Some have far bigger ramifications e.g. Do I quit my job?
Some are part of our constant battle against our inner critic e.g. Do I go to the gym or do I watch that film on the telly?
Often we allow our thought patterns to go around and around and overthink our decisions to the extent that we are nearly paralysed. We worry so much about the consequences of the decisions that we end up either never making them or always taking the safe path and then beating ourselves up afterwards!
Strategies
There are some simple strategies that you can use to help making the right important decisions for you a simpler and less painful process.
Number 1 – Know what decisions are important. We overthink a lot of unimportant decisions each day. This not only is a waste of our time – it is exhausting. The first question to ask yourself is “Is this decision important?” If it isn’t – just quickly choose and move on…..
Number 2 – Know what decision fits with your values. What is important to you? Do you desire love and family over material wealth? Do you crave recognition or fulfilment? If you are making decisions that conflict with your values then you will often feel stressed and will have a much more difficult decision-making process.
Number 3 – Know where you are trying to get to. Do you have a clear set of goals which cover the major areas of your life? If you set off in your car and have no idea of your destination then working out whether to turn left or right at a crossroads will be so much harder.
Number 4 – Just do it! Many of us have inner critics that will talk us out of brave decisions within only a few seconds. If a decision feels right to you but is also a bit scary then just jump. Just do it and enjoy the journey to your best life.
If you don’t know what your values or goals are then coaching can definitely help you. Please contact me here to book a free sample call.