How To Make Better Decisions
3 Steps to Confident Decisions
“If you choose not to decide you have already made a choice.”
–Rush
Do you want to feel more confidence in the decisions you make? Do you want to speed up your decision making process? Do you want to trust your judgement more? I will show you a new way to make better decisions faster with better results.
Decision making can be downright scary!
The decisions we make are one of the things we have control over in our lives. So why is it that we shy away from making decisions? One of the biggest reasons is the fear of failure. We simply don’t want to make a mistake. We don’t want to see ourselves as a failure. However, the path to success is littered with failure. Failure is the way we learn how to move forward and gain power to succeed.
The more decisions you make, the more power you have. The fewer decisions you make the less power you have.
There are a bazillion articles on decision making. Articles outlining the scientific process of making decisions; pros and cons, brainstorming, and cost benefit analysis, etc. This is not that article.
3 Ding Decision Making
I’m going to teach you three simple steps to make decisions confidently and quickly. I call it the 3 Ding Decision Making Process. When you ding on all 3 areas, you have made your decision.
Here is how it works. First of all, do some homework. Gather possible options and think about them. Choose your top 1-3 and run them through the 3 Ding Decision Making process.
MIND: Run each decision individually “up the flagpole.” Do your best to see the end result of that choice. As you think it through, ask yourself, “Does this choice make sense? Does it look good on paper? Does it seem practical?” To the best of your ability, determine if each choice will bring you the result you want.
HEART: The second step is to take each option individually and check in with your heart. How does it make you feel? What emotions arise as you consider this decision? With any decision there will always be some level of uncertainty, but ultimately do you feel a sense of underlying peace with making this decision? Tune in to your emotions and see what happens in your heart (emotions).
BODY: Third, take each option and imagine making that decision. Notice what happens overall in your body. Tune in and notice if there are areas of high tension. What happens in your shoulders, your jaw, your chest, your stomach, you’re back, and your head etc. The goal is to tune in to the body and listen to what it is telling you. Often tuning in with the body can be referred to as tuning in to your subconscious. Is your body overall at peace with this choice?
Which choice seemed to “ding” best in all three areas–mind, heart and body? You are looking for a ding, ding, ding! Don’t hesitate to repeat the process again until you feel confident in trusting your intuition-then make the decision and move forward boldly!
A leader I was coaching was recently making a big decision related to union negotiations–a very complex situation. He was feeling uncertain, confused, and exhausted. He had done his homework, considered his options, and selected three of them. Together, we ran through this model and he was able make a decision that he could live with.
If you are 90% certain with a decision, you’ve made the decision. With many decisions there’s no hundred percent guarantee. Do your best and move forward.
The invitation:
- Identify a bigger decision that you need to make, one that you have done your leg work on.
- Run the decision in your mind to the very end. Play the movie out in your mind to the best of your ability to see the outcome of this decision. On a cognitive level, does it make sense to you, does it add up?
- Next tune in with your heart. Feel it out. Does it feel right? This is not to say that any decision you make will feel 100% right, in fact there’s often uncertainty that we step into. However, is there an undercurrent of peace and a sense that it’s right? Sit with it for a moment and watch what emotions come up.
- Lastly tune into the sensations in your body when you think about making this decision. Notice what happens, notice whether there is tension or not. Tune into the body. What is it telling you about this decision? If you feel relaxed, that can be a good indicator you are making a good choice. This is engaging your subconscious mind to help you in the decision making process.
Have some fun with this, and practice this when you’re making decisions and notice what happens. Chances are you’ll feel more energized, more focused, and begin to grow in confidence in your decision making.
If you’d like more information on tools like this to help you and your team perform at its peak, please feel free to contact me at www.dougspeaks.com.
Remember to live a Core-Rageous life (live from your core and do it outrageously) because what is the point if you are not trying to do something amazing today!
Doug Nielsen