Decisions, decisions decisions! An average adult makes about 35,000 conscious decisions every day, sounds impossible right? Every single day we are faced with decision making some of those are rational some are irrational, and some are logical. Decision making can be anything from the car we drive to where we have lunch, to more life-defining choices. Our world moves so fast that we tend to allow decisions to be made for us and not by us. Isn’t it interesting how we all want to have control of our life, and yet we allow our experience to control us? I mean think about it how many times have you allowed someone to choose for you? It isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but because of this, we become accustomed to having things just be selected for us. According to a recent study our decision making is controlled primarily by our emotions they control 90% of the decisions we make. How we feel impacts the quality of the choices we make which later comes to define our life.
To help you understand the decision-making process easier we decided to do a few Q&A’s.
Now before we began please keep in mind that decision making is not a talent, but a skill which we gain through practice. So, let’s get started!
What makes decision making so difficult for us?
Decision making often brings feelings of sacrifice or loss. Today, many of us are more concerned about the opinion of others rather than focusing on what is essential for us this puts us in "decision paralysis" causing us to feel "stuck" and lost.
Which factors influence Decision Making?
Past experiences, perceptions, and individual differences such as age socioeconomic status all influence our decision-making skills. Past experiences impact future decisions, they become our perception of the future. We live in a fast-paced world with so many choices in everything we do; naturally, when given many alternatives we tend to have a "choice overload" causing us to grasp to the easiest option.
When is the best time to make decisions?
One of the best times to make profound decisions is in the morning, that's because we feel less risk in the morning. A new day is a chance for new opportunities, new beginnings; we cannot control the past, nor the future leaving us to focus on today.
What is the decision-making process?
Many people are system driven; we tend to get things done better when there is a system to follow. We become accustomed to follow orders at work, at school, while driving, we even have a systematic way of getting things done better known as a daily routine. After extensive research, we came across some helpful ideas to ease up the decision-making process because we understand the importance of decision making and we can very well relate to those of you who struggle with making a decision.
The four steps to decision making
Identify the problem- to make the right decision first; you need to recognize the concern.
Diagnose -this will help to evaluate the alternatives of your choice. Why do you need to make this decision?
Establish decision- this is by far one of the most valuable tools used in decision making, it allows you to pick and choose between wants vs. needs. Evaluate and prioritize the importance of each decision.
Evaluate-how will your choice come in effect with your life? Will it benefit you, if so how?
These four steps may all seem a bit overwhelming, but with practice it will become a natural as breathing.
Making decisions is probably one of the hardest things we have to do, it's not always as easy as choosing the make or model of the car we drive or where we decide to have lunch. Many of our decisions impact our lives significantly, we all want to make the best possible choices in any given circumstances. At times it may seem as if our entire world is collapsing because of individual decisions made, sometimes it may look as if we are living our best life based on a particular decision made. Use the four-step formula to ease up the decision-making process. (can we add a link that goes back to 4 steps) ?
Conclusion
At this point you should feel a little more comfort about decision making, remember decision making is not a talent but a skill which we can all learn through practice. There are many tools which can be used to help with decision making and we hope these four steps come in handy for you. Start deciding exactly what you want in your life and create your best life yet!
Just a few final tips to ease the decision-making process:
Don’t overthink
Don’t be afraid to make a mistake
Be optimistic
Do what feels right (follow your instinct)
We hope you enjoyed this article! More like this coming your way.