I have to be honest; one of my main weaknesses is making good decisions in a relatively short time span. Often I use several days if not a week, stressing out over the idea that I have to make a decision, and still after a week get no closer to making a final decision.

Because we all have to make decisions in our lives, wether it is the small decision of what we will have for breakfast to very important long term decisions such as what we want to study or which career we want to head into, I wanted to write this blog post, because I believe that making genuinely good decisions is actually not easy and something that we could all learn more about.

Making good decisions takes the consideration of many different facets and often also takes more time to properly think things through. For this reason, I have written and identified a list of key steps and considerations which you can go through every time you are in the process of making an important decision.

I hope that you find that list useful and that it can hopefully make it easier for you to make decisions you are proud of.

Get to know your own needs and wants

Ask yourself why you are choosing to make a choice in the first place: Why are you deciding now, what do you hope to achieve with this decision and what are its intended goals.
Identify your current goals, priorities and main values: Ask yourself if by making this decision you will support these aspects of yourself or go against them? How can you reduce conflict in this area?
Consider what would be your intuitive response to a decision: What does your intuition tell you?

Weigh the pros and cons of the decision

Take into account the consequences of the decision (The short and long term costs and benefits of the decision taken)
- What is the most likely outcome of me making this decision?
- What is the best and worst outcome that could happen in the near future and long term future?
- Am I prepared for the outcome if things don't turn out as I expected them to?
Minimizing regret: Consider wether you will regret making this decision or saying yes/ no to a decision? This is key because sometimes we automatically say yes to everything and before we know it we are doing things which drain us instead of energize us.
Minimizing conflicts: If you think that your decision will cause someone else to have a bad response, try and put yourself into their shoes and think about how they will likely react and how you could best manage that situation.
Keeping your options and possibilities and open: This will give you breadth of the various other opportunities and perspective that exist. For this, you could also ask relevant experts or close family members / friends for advice on what they would do in your position. This doesn't mean you have to completely follow their advice, but try and understand their perspective and take from it what is useful to you.
Narrow down your choices: Often when faces with too many possibilities, we get overwhelmed and find it hard to listen to ourselves and decide on something. Because of this, try and narrow down your possibilities and keep the ones that really excite you or are really important to you.

Optimizing you decision making abilities

Take your time with the decision process if you can: Good decisions require time because a lot of thinking, strategizing and planning is involved.
Identify what time in the day you find it easiest to make decisions: Usually the time of day you experience least stress such as in the morning or during weekends.
Manage your stress levels: Don't make a impulsive decision just because you are stressed about making a decision so you go with something just for the sake of not having to decide anymore.
Keep your basics in check: Get enough sleep, stay hydrated and don't be hungry when making important decisions.
Deeper breathing: Take deeper breaths that will stimulate more oxygen to flow into your brain which can enhance your thinking and clarity of choice.
Writing down your decision making process: Writing down helps you to additionally process your thinking and put it into perspective.

I hope that wit this blog post you were able to get some refreshing and genuinely useful advice on how to make better decision in any area of your life. Good decisions making is not easy and is really something that you get better at the more decisions you make, so why not take some time to learn to how to better your decision making abilities, which is after all a very valuable skill to have.

Thank you for reading ad enjoy the rest of your day or evening.