Are you a quick decision maker? A wise decision maker? Being able tomake the right decisions is a critical life skill because each decision youmake has the potential to alter your life path, no matter how big or small youperceive that decision to be.

It is worth your time, myfriend, to review the steps in decision making so that your mind switches toauto pilot seamlessly and filters information quickly through each step.

Decision making steps:

Step1:  Define theProblem That may sound easy looking at the surface, but sometimes the realproblem is underneath, like an iceberg, and takes some digging. You don’t wantto just treat the symptom. It can be as simple as “I’m hungry”.  Before going to grab some food, ask yourselfsome questions. “Am I just bored?” “When did I last eat?” “Am I just cravingsugar?”

Or let’s look at a bigger decision: perhaps you are struggling with thedecision of which college to attend. Dig deep and ask yourself why you arefinding this a hard choice. Do you want to stay closer to home but know thefurther away school is better for your major? You want to go to the same schoolas your best friend?

Coming to grips with the REAL struggle you are having is step #1 in theprocess to making a wise decision. You have to know what you are dealing with.

Step 2: Consider All Options This is where youneed to think outside the box and get creative so you are not just looking atthe obvious choices. Research, ask others, and list all possible solutions evenif they sound out of reach. There may just be an option you have not thoughtabout.

Step 3: Consider All Consequences If you are avisual person it might help to draw a mind map – draw a circle with the optioninside it and draw radiating lines from it with each consequence written on theline, negative consequences on one side and positive consequences on the otherside of the circle.  If you are a listperson, make a T chart of pros and cons. This exercise will help clarify theoutcomes of your available choices.

Step 4: Make a Decision At this point you should be readyto make your choice. You have all your options in front of you with possibleoutcomes of each choice. It’s time to analyze this data and make the bestchoice.

Step 5: Take Full Responsibility Once you have madethe decision, you now must be ready to accept responsibility for all outcomes.No blaming, no whining, the choice was yours, and you did the best with whatinformation you had at the time.

Step 6: Evaluate As time passes, it is important toevaluate your decision. Did you skimp on your research and miss something thatcould’ve made a difference? Thankfully, most decisions can be recalibrated. Askyourself what you can learn from this decision that will help you with futuredecisions.

It is good to practice this process with easy decisions so that when itcomes to the bigger, more important ones your mind will intuitively run throughthese steps. You will find decision making will gradually become easier andfaster.

-Jan Jones

For a fresh strategy to deal with FOBO (Fear Of Missing the BestOpportunity) watch this video:

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