Most people don’t really discern and weigh both the consequences and/or benefits of their decisions. Quite frequently, we buzz through our lives totally unaware of the thoughts we are thinking and the actions we are taking. Do you realize every single decision we make shapes our current situation? It forms who we are, because many times we follow through on decisions we make and we are not even aware we are doing it.
If you are not satisfied with the results you are experiencing in your life right now, making the effort to take note of your decisions (start this minute, TODAY!) will be a huge factor in becoming a creator of your life situation, rather than a victim of what you currently perceive as circumstances happening to you.
Here what you can do:
1. Become aware of the power in decision making
You have to begin to realize what a decision does. A decision causes a chain of events to occur. This is how we form habits. One decision leads to another, then another, then another and before long, we are on auto-pilot, not even making a conscious decision, but rather operating in default mode. However, if you never make that first decision, events go in a different direction. It’s all about that piece of pie in the fridge at 2 am. That next decision comes easier about pie and so on. Now, you piece of pie at 2 am could be anything, but you get my thought process here.
2. Recognize fear
For many, we take way too much time to make a decision because we are afraid of the outcome. So, we go through heavy analysis, careful planning and pros and cons. Some of this is healthy, but too much is too much. We have paralysis by analysis. This usually occurs due to lack of trust. A high amount of analysis on simple decisions is because of low trust beyond a person’s self. Oftentimes, we need to learn to trust our gut instinct. I believe most of the time, you will learn your first instinct was the correct one to choose. Even if you miss sometimes, going with your gut, even on mistakes, causes you to be more confident in your decision making going forward.
3. See your decision through
When you make a decision, commit to it fully. A real decision is one in which you decide on something and that decision is carried out through an action and delivers your desired result. That’s a real decision. It’s very ludicrous to consider a decision in your head, play it out thoughtfully day after day and do nothing about it at all. You might as well have made no decision at all and thought of something more productive not to do. If you want to make positive changes in your life and/or career, you must make it a habit to apply action with your decision until it is fully carried out to a determined result.
4. Go public
There’s something about telling others about what we are going to do that urges us to follow-through. One of my clients made the decision to start getting up at 5 am (after I had said in a seminar many times about getting up early before any activity begins) and then they astonishingly announced to everyone in the group their decision to get up early at 5 am every day and use that hour to read and work on making themselves better! I call this the “golden hour”. You know what? Even though they had failed to get up this early every time before, they have now successfuly accomplished this every day for almost a year! Even weekends and holidays! They admitted they felt a stronger obligation to follow through once they announced it to others in the group. I might add that some amazing transformation has happened in that short year for them!
5. Pay attention to your track record
Make sure you notice how your decisions are turning out and why? Start keep track of your record on your decisions. Your behaviors and actions. The environment. What hangs up or causes you to power through. What causes success or breeds failure. Instead of beating yourself up when you have a decision failure, learn from it. What was good about it and bad about it? Don’t focus so much on short term effects, keep your focus on the long term effects and process.
Comments