Decisions! Decisions! Decisions!

From the time you wake up to the time you sleep you make multiple decisions. A few decisions are easy and a few are tough. A few make you feel that you have taken the best decision of your life and a few will make you regret for ages to come. Did you anytime wonder about psychology behind decision making?

What makes a decision a tough decision?

When I was struggling to decide between a job offer in Chennai and Bangalore, my friend said “I didn’t think as much as you are doing when I left my job and moved to Germany from India”

Both the decisions were about moving jobs. So they should be tough right? But one person found it easy and another person found it tough.

Once when I was at my friend’s place, she spend one and half hour to decide what clothes to wear for her office party. I would hate myself if I had spent anything more than 10 minutes to make that decision.

Isn’t wearing clothes a trivial decision we make everyday? Why did she find it tough?

 

Decisions are tough when

1.You don’t know what you want

You want to buy clothes for your birthday. You go with a mindset that you will buy whatever looks good on you. You will find that everything you try beautiful. Then you don’t know what you want to buy. You become indecisive.

Instead if you went to the shop with a particular colour, dress type, budget in mind, you will be narrowing down your choice. Decision is easy to make.

2.You are afraid to agree to your inner most desires

You actually want to go to a party. But you are afraid of what your parents might say. You don’t know which decision to make.

Instead, if you decide to listen to your inner desires, you will not be indecisive

3.You don’t have a strong value system

You go for running the first day. The next day you are in a tryst between your sleep and running. You neither sleep nor go for running because you spend time on deciding. Instead if your value system said running is important anyday before sleeping, there you wake up without a second thought.

How to make a tough decision?

Step1:Strong Value system

A country is run on a constitution. So should our lives be. Write down a list of things which you think are important today. The same things might not be important tomorrow. But that is fine. A constitution can be amended any number of times. So is our value system. But try to make your constitution last for a longer time with very less amendments.

  
Step2: Narrow down your choices

Using your value system, bring down the number of choices you have. Eliminate the ones which are not a part of your value system. Just retain the ones which are present in your value system.

Step 3: Write Pros and cons

Write what is going to happen with which decision you take. The good and the bad. Then think which pain seems to be easy to handle now. Which pain will pay off in the long term? Go for the one which is going to pay you in long term. See if you can create a good decision which can get the good of both. Or look for other ways to neutralize the bad effects of the good decision.

Step 4: Accept it

Never be harsh on yourself if the well thought decision goes against you. Take it as an opportunity to improve your decision making skills and also a chance to become tough.

Happy making the right decision!