Each important decision that presents itself will have a consequence and that consequence(s) will form a large part in reaching your final decision. It may be a very easy decision to make which you reach quickly or it may be a very hard one that needs a great deal of deliberation, time to consider and a lot of soul searching.
Either way, what you ultimately decide will mark a turning point, a change of direction, a different approach or a new chapter in your life. How easy or hard the decision is to reach will depend a great deal on many factors, such as: the degree of complexity of the decision to be made; external influences affecting the decision; who is invovled in making the decision; your current emotional state of mind (restless, angry, sad, confused etc.); the impact that the decision made will have on you personally and/or those around you; the time-scale invovled, i.e. when the decision needs to be reached or has to be made.
Of course, there may be other factors that will determine how you approach your situation and you may decide to seek the help of friends, family or work colleagues - and this can, in some circumstances, help you gain different viewpoints from a wide range of experience and backgrounds. It must be remembered as well that not all decisions need to be made alone and, in fact, it is sometimes beneficial to also do some targeted research around your decision making so that you can feel as though you will ultimately make an informed decision - one in which all avenues have been explored, perhaps already tried and tested by others and negatives and positives explored in full.
As a motivational Life Coach I am able to guide and support you towards making those life-changing, important decisions yourself which may, at first, feel as though they are an insurmountable mountain to climb!
Life coaching is not about having decisions and solutions made for you but rather that you are given the opportunity, tools and incentive to explore all your options, solutions and effective impacts in an informed, clear, objective-setting way, which is also governed by an end date. Procrastination never solved anything!
One of the methods that I find invaluable when choosing the right decision to make, and one that I would like to share with you, is the following:
- take a piece of paper and a pen
- as a Heading, write at the top of the page what it is you want to decide upon
- underneath the Heading draw 4 columns with the following questions as sub-headings
- What will happen if I do?, What will happen if I don't? What won't happen if I do? What won't happen if I don't?
e.g. Decision to be taken: I leave my dead-end paid job and use all my savings to start my own business in creating and selling my bespoke jewellery pieces that I am passionate about?
So, answer the first question: What will happen if I leave my dead-end paid.......
Spend as much time on answering these 4 thought-provoking questions, in turn, as you need to. You may have multiple answers, you may have single answers. The important thing is to build up a convincing strategy.
This exercise will help to put your thoughts into order in a clear, concise manner and go a long way in helping you decide whether or not the solution to your important decision is viable.
Whatever your answers reveal to each question will also help you reach that important decision a little easier and perhaps become so clear that it shouts out to you from the page!
If you are still unsure, take one of the answers that you have written down which is bugging you and do the same exercise (i.e. applying it to each of the 4 questions in turn). You will then be building up a clearer picture of all eventualities, the impact of your decision, and the advantages and disadvantages of taking it. You will have drilled down to the core of your thinking.
In the end, it will be YOUR decision - one that you have reached in a clear, objective way.
And, one last important point! In order for it to become a reality, you must also add a realistic time limit to achieve your decision or goal so that it becomes a definite. If there is no end-by-date, your decision becomes, or remains, a dream and dreams are never realised if you don't act upon them!