Easily Improve your Decision Making Skills
One of the most important skills needed to succeed in these competitive times is decision-making skills. Although on the surface of it, this seems like an easy enough task. Choosing from the different options one gets in any particular situation should not be difficult. But the truth of the situation is that decision making single-handedly decides the path of one’s life. JK Rowling has said it right, ‘It is our choices that show us who we truly are far more than our abilities.’
But decision making is not something that comes easily to all. It is a skill to be nurtured through practice and there are some easy steps to start on your journey of more effective decision making.
Procrastination
More often than not, people tend to procrastinate the difficult decisions of their life, hoping that something would come up to eliminate the choices and make the decision easier for them. But the more you procrastinate, the more are the chances that in the end, you will end up taking a hasty decision that most probably will harm rather than help your cause. So, in order to escape such an impasse, we can use some simple practices that may help to make the decision.
Foresight - Keep Calm and Reason it out
The first step of the process is not to panic. Instead, keep calm and take a paper and pen. Put down all the available options you have and then write down their pros and cons. Most people regret their actions in hindsight but this will help you to cultivate a foresight so that you may see the harmful side effects of a plan of action before you recklessly launch into one.
Talk it out
The next step is to talk it out with other people. There may be a blind spot or a possible solution that you have overlooked. To avoid this, there are two sorts of people you need to talk to. Firstly, talk it out with the people who are going to be affected by the decision. It is possible that they have a different viewpoint on things. But before you do this, it is essential to have executed the previous step so that you are aware of your own choices and have some opinion about the matter.
Secondly, you need to talk to at least one or two people who are in no way involved in the matter, so that you may have unbiased advice from a quarter. The people who are involved in the matter may try to sway you according to their own benefit but a well wisher will give their honest advice.
Take the Decision
The last thing is to make the decision. Even after having discussed it all and knowing all the pros and cons, you may have some doubts left in your mind because the choice you reject will also have some pros to it. But it is necessary to make a decision to avoid having to decide in a rush when some of your options may already be nullified.
Not only does this process ensure more confidence and success in your decisions, it also makes sure that even if your decision fails, you wouldn’t have to regret not having tried hard enough. Moreover, the chances of success are increased many fold making certain that over a period of time, you will be making more informed choices and living a life on your own terms.
