How to easily make a tough decision in 3 steps
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To make a sound decision that you’re confident with, you need to have a clear understanding of what’s important to you and why.
Each decision, whether you’re aware of it or not, comes with a set of criteria that you’ve arranged in an order of importance.
You want to make this order of criteria clear to yourself on a conscious level and arrange it in an order that creates a positive and productive effect in your life.
By doing this, you will able to devote your energy and resources to what you consider to be more important, and focus less on those things that aren’t important and which could distract you.
This also helps you to understand how and why you’re making (or not making) certain decisions and acting a specific way!
Here are 3 steps you can take right now to make the best decision with confidence:
Step 1: Identify the hierarchy of criteria
First off, ask yourself: What is important to me [about, around, on, in etc.]?
For example, what is important to me when it comes to my bike set up for Ironman Nice 70.3 World Championships? Or what are the most important attributes I’m looking for in a partner?
Continue to ask yourself this question until you have a list of different things that are important to you.
If we continue with the partner example, you might have a list that looks like this:
Attractive
Rich
Spiritual
Shared interest
Step 2: Establish which criteria are the most important
I want you to imagine that in one hand you have [your subject e.g. a partner] who is [criteria A e.g. attractive], but not [criteria B e.g. rich].
And in the other hand, you have [your subject e.g. a partner] who is [criteria B e.g. rich], but not [criteria B e.g. attractive].
Which would you choose?
For example, would you rather have a partner who is rich and not attractive or vice versa, a partner who is really attractive but not rich at all?
If you chose criteria A, this means that you value attractiveness more than criteria B - richness, and the opposite is also true. If you chose criteria B, then richness is more important to you than the person being very attractive!
Now compare [criteria C e.g. spirituality] with whichever criteria was more important to you from the previous questions.
For example, if criteria A - attractiveness was more important to you, now compare criteria A and not C, with criteria C and not A.
If you chose criteria C not A, then criteria C - spirituality is more important to you than attractiveness and richness. However, if you chose criteria A over criteria C, then you need to work out if criteria C is more or less important than criteria B (richness).
By working through all of your criteria methodically, you can work out their hierarchy of importance.
Step 3: Now you understand your criteria of importance, how does that change how you feel?
So once you’ve identified your criteria and the criteria you value the most, ask yourself:
How does that effect how I feel about making a decision?
How does it increase my confidence in making the best decision?
Am I now able to make a decision, or do I need some more guidance?
Hopefully, as you’re now able to see things in a much clearer light, this will allow you to make a sound decision with confidence!
And that’s it! Here’s a quick summary:
Step 1: Identify the hierarchy of criteria
Step 2: Establish which criteria are the most important
Step 3: Now you understand your criteria of importance, how does that change how you feel?
