Art Of Decision Making
Deciding Is Freedom. Indecision Is Torture ~ Jen Sincero
One of the best things you can do to improve the world is to improve yourself.
Indecision is one of the most popular tricks for staying stuck within the boundaries of what’s safe and familiar. Which is why a common trait of successful people is that they make decisions quickly and change them slowly.
And by quickly I don’t mean that you must know exactly what to do the moment a decision presents itself, but rather that you immediately face the damn thing and start working through your decision-making process.
Whatever that may look like — sleeping on it, making a list of the pros and cons, feeling into it, etc.
The terror around making the wrong decision can be so overwhelming to some people that they develop the habit of
A) Waffling back and forth, paralyzed by self-doubt and terror, finally seeking out a “decision” that they then proceed to change over and over -and over again.
B) Making decisions hastily, without thinking or feeling into them, their main goal being to escape the discomfort and get the damn thing over with already.
C) Being so afraid that if they pick one thing, they’ll miss out on another, so they either choose to do nothing or try to do everything, which are both excellent ways to miss out on all of it.
They basically decide to never decide because they don’t want to make the wrong decision.
To decide means literally to cut off. No wonder so many people are totally freaked out by it!
Decide quickly on not so important things in your day
If you’re a waffler, or prefer to avoid the process altogether, a great thing to do is practice on the little things to build up your decision-making muscle.
When eating at restaurants, make yourself pick something off the menu in under thirty seconds. Once you choose, you are unauthorized to change your mind or your order.
Give yourself twenty minutes to go online and research the best garlic paste and then make the purchase. Pick things off the shelves at the supermarket in under ten seconds.
Knock yourself out of the habit of being a deer stuck in the headlights by demanding you wake up and choose something.
Try setting up attainable targets
If you’re someone who needs to sleep on it or mull it around a bit, give yourself a deadline.
Don’t leave it open until you decide and risk waking up forty years later, finally sure of what to do, long after the opportunity has passed you by.
Pay attention to how much time you need to decide (overnight, a week, a month) and demand of yourself that you figure it out by then.
Get quiet, listen for and feel into the answer, and practice acting on your first, solid impulse.
If you’re wired for making instant decisions, practice tuning into your intuition and fully trusting what it says (regardless of what your brain may be screaming about).
Get quiet, listen for and feel into the answer, and practice acting on your first, solid impulse.
And whoever you are, stop saying how pathetic you are at making decisions.
Erase the phrase “I don’t know,” from your vocabulary and replace it with “I’ll know what to do soon enough.”
Decide to become the person who makes quick, smart decisions and you will.
The whole point of deciding is to stop wasting time and to move forward, not to spend time figuring out how you can wiggle out of your decision!
Eliminate the negotiation habit
When I decided to quit smoking and drinking, if I even toyed with thoughts like “Well, what harm will one itty-bitty drag do?” or “what one glass of wine can do?” I was screwed.
Our decisions must be watertight, because excuses will seep through any little cracks in our resolve and before we know it, we’ll be on our asses.
Decisions are not up for negotiation.
The old you, the one who has not yet decided to kick ass, is in the past. Stay present and do not, even for a second, look backward or entertain any ideas of straying from your decision.
Think only of the new you. The whole point of deciding is to stop wasting time and to move forward, not to spend time figuring out how you can wiggle out of your decision!
It helped me to think of it this way: I’m not going to go home and negotiate about whether or not I’m going to smoke a cigarette just .
Now that I don’t smoke, I’m not going to negotiate about smoking because I don’t smoke.
Stick like glue
Try to learn the art of Tenacity. Be the last person standing.
Wear down your obstacles and excuses and fears and doubts until they’re finally like, “You? Again?
Making the decisions and accepting its consequences is the only way to stay in control of your life and time.
In order to change your life and start living a new one that you’ve never lived before, your faith in miracles, and yourself, must be greater than your fear.
However easy or rough your birth process is, you have to be willing to fall down, get up, look stupid, cry, laugh, make a mess, clean it up and not stop until you get there. No matter what.
Be Bold
Be Courageous
Be Your Best
Story Source: You Are A Badass by Jen Sincero
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