Steps to Effective Decision Making

"It's not what's happening to you now or what has happened in your past that determines who you become. Rather, it's your decisions about what to focus on, what things mean to you, and what you're going to do about them that will determine your ultimate destiny." ~ Anthony Robbins

Decision making is something that each and everyone of us have to do at some point or the other. Right from our childhood, we have been taught to be independent enough to take decisions on our own which decides the course of life.

From choosing our friends, to our subjects, to our favorite sport and hobby, to our career... each and everything is decided by us. Whether it be decision making in a personal or a professional level, the basic approach on how to go about it remains the same.

Now, you might have come across various articles wherein they tell you about the 5.6 or, and honestly, they are also effective in their own way! But then, ask yourself, do you honestly have the time or even the thought of going through these steps when it comes to making decisions as soon as possible.

When you have less time and a decision to make, all you would want to do is to know how to decide what is right and beneficial.

"Half the worry in the world is caused by people trying to make decisions before they have sufficient knowledge on which to base a decision." ~ Dean Hawkes

The aforementioned quote says it all... It states one of the most important elements of an effective decision-making process, which is to gain sufficient knowledge on which you need to base your decision.

Let me give you a small example, say you (unlike most of the people) are not happy about the way your life is right now, be it at a personal or a professional level.

You know you don't want your life to be this way, you 'Desire' to live in a different way, but being so preoccupied with what this 'state' has kept you dealing with, you are unable to decide what to do to rectify and achieve satisfaction and happiness. So let us begin with the first step towards effective decision making.

In order to take a firm decision to bring positive changes in your life, you first need to think about the following aspects of the problem you are dealing with. Just go through these questions one by one, and think about their answers. Start!

☛ What is your ultimate goal?
☛ What is the Problem?
☛ Why did the problem arise?
☛ How is it affecting your life?
☛ What are the consequences if the problem is not rectified?
☛ What should you do 'now' to rectify the problem?
☛ Do you have other options?
☛ What is the best option to deal with the problem?

If you have honestly gone through these questions one by one, and given each and every question a serious thought, I am sure you have come up with some or the other answer that solves the problem. Right? You know what the funny part is? If you think about it, we have the answers to all our questions, the only reason why we are not able to take a firm decision is because we fail to convert our 'desire' into a firm 'commitment'.

Once you have understood the problem thoroughly after understanding the pros and cons of it, after understanding how it is affecting you currently or how it will affect your future goal, after understanding how soon should you be working on rectifying it or else what will be the consequences.

You will be more clear in your problem solving and decision-making approach. If you are thinking of something wrong, your thought process will automatically ask you to stop and move on to the next option. This is why understanding the issue is so much important.

Just knowing what the problem is and understanding what needs to be done to get the desired outcome is not enough. Remember I told you that almost each and every person on this earth knows the solution to the problem, but still fails to get out of the problem.

For example, every alcoholic knows that the solution to his problems is to leave alcohol, every obese person knows that the solution to their low self-esteem is exercising and shedding weight, every employee knows that in order to get promotion you need to work according to the boss.

All you need to do, is to stick firmly to what is required. Even a slightest 'break in the flow' can put you back to square one.

Once you have committed, there is no looking back, there are no other alternatives. Though most of the people look for other options at the same time considering them as a backup plan, I feel that the reason one tends to get distracted from their current track is because of these 'other options'.

For example, there wouldn't be a concern of cheating if there were no other options, there wouldn't be a problem of attrition if there were no other companies to go to. Similarly, if you sink this mantra into your mind that you have to do 'this' to get 'there', you will work on it with all your efforts.

I strongly believe that the environment, both within you and around you, affects your path of achieving what you have decided on!

So, once you have decided that 'this' is what I have to achieve, and this is how I am going to achieve it, then you also need to bring some significant and necessary changes both in yourself and in the environment around you.

These changes should include each and everything that reminds you, motivates you, and draws your efforts towards achieving the desired results within the desired time frame. It is not necessary that these changes will be comfortable for you, most likely they will not.

But then you have to accept each and everything that comes along with the path you have taken to make things work for you.

"Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

They say that you must always be very careful of what you want in life, because you always end up getting it, be it good or bad. If you want something really badly, and work on it without a second thought about it, then the universe will work with you to make it happen based on the energy your thoughts emit out in the universe.

I really don't know if you believe in this or not, but I do! Which is why when it comes to effective decision making, what matters the most is to achieve what you want... and whatever you want, should ultimately lead to satisfaction and peace of mind.

You need to cover the gap between desire and decision making which can be done only and only when you just go ahead for what you want without acting like a pharisee looking for a loophole! All the best!