Making Better Decisions:  What You Need To Know

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To get ahead in life, it is critical that you are making the right decisions, however, this is not always easy. There are things to know that will help you to make decisions well and in a timely manner. When you make good decisions, you will find that all parts of your life improve. For example, those with successful careers and relationships tend to be good decision makers. Being able to think on your feet when necessary, as well as analyze the various parts of a decision are critical for personal growth.

Understanding Decision Making

Decision making is a process and there are times when there is no right decision. When you are trying to reach a decision, use a combination of reasoning and intuition. You can use just one of these to make decisions, but the combination of both tends to make arriving at a good decision more likely. This also helps to structure the decision-making process to:

·         To look back and see how you arrived at decisions in the past.

·         To meet deadlines by properly planning your decision making.

·         To make complex decisions simpler by breaking them down into multiple smaller decisions.

Decision Making Stages

When you are making a decision, you subconsciously go through seven steps that help you to arrive at the final decision. Even when you make quick decisions, your mind is going through this process. By knowing the process and the steps that are involved, you can now take the time to truly process things before deciding. The following are the seven steps of the decision-making process:

·         Making a list of all of the potential options and solutions

·         Making the decision as to who is the best person to make the decision and setting a time table to make the decision

·         Gathering all of the information that you need to make the decision

·         Figuring out what is most important when working toward the decision

·         Making a list of all of the actions and the pros and cons that are associated with them

·         Making the actual decision

How to Not Properly Make a Decision

You now know what is takes to make a good decision, but it is important to know what can cause you to make a poor decision. Knowing this allows you to avoid the common mistakes and pitfalls associated with the decision-making process. The following are common reasons that people make bad decisions:

Before acting, you want too much certainty

Those who tend to be perfectionists often fall into this decision-making pitfall. You want to gather the right facts, but putting off making a decision because you do not feel that everyone is perfect is also a problem. When you have a decision to make, you have to create a time table as to how you will work toward a decision and when you will make it. It is important to stick to this so that you do not change your decision at the last minute.

Thinking that others must accept your decision for it to be valid

As long as your decision improves your life and does not cause harm to others, even if people do not agree with it, you have made the right decision. It is common to be scared about how people will react, especially when the decision is going to affect many people. However, this is where you have to trust your intuition and the information that you have gathered.

Making decisions when you are overly emotional

Being able to set your emotions aside and allow logic to take over is critical for making a good decision. If you are very emotional, take a break and wait to make important decisions.

Making the same bad decisions

If you made a decision in the past that did not work out, make sure that you do not repeat the decision again in the future.

Now that you have a better understanding about decision making, how to make them and why this is all important, you will find that you start to grow in many aspects of your life. You will find that leaving indecisiveness behind helps you in many ways from being more productive to saving money. Decision making is a skill and something that you will need to work on over the long-term. Take some time each day to analyze and work on your decision-making skills.

References

Bernstein, E. (2014). How You Make Decisions Says a Lot About How Happy You Are. Retrieved March 11, 2015 from http://www.wsj.com/articles/how-you-make-decisions-says-a-lot-about-how-happy-you-are-1412614997