This Makes Making Great Decisions Easy

What bubbles up for you when you have decisions to make? Are you delighted by the opportunity to make a choice? Or does it evoke feelings of overwhelm for you?

Add a little stress, and you have…

Decision Overwhelm

My husband and I happen to very much enjoy Los Cabos, Mexico. A few years back, we had booked a corner room that overlooks the water at our favorite hotel…again! We were eagerly anticipating a week of relaxation.

A few weeks prior to our glorious trip, we learned that there would be some major construction going on right outside our door during the week we would be there. Not exactly the Zen vacation we had imagined.

In hopes of still enjoying some peace, we attempted to switch the timing so that we would arrive after all the improvements were made.

Sadly, we discovered that the construction would be ongoing for the rest of the year. Ugh!

Rather than skip a week of fun in the sun, we decided to explore other options and discovered an overwhelming number of choices in Los Cabos! So many choices we nearly gave up!

Decision Data

Ever wonder just how many decisions you are confronted with in a single day? A quick internet search will yield the number 35,000 decisions for the average adult and nearly 227 of those are food related! How reliable those figures are is debatable but the point remains that every day you make a whole bunch of decisions!

If you are a leader, I would argue you make even more decisions than the average adult!

What if there was a way to whittle that number down so that you could be more intentional when making the remaining decisions?

The Personality Factor

Have you ever considered the role your personality plays in decision making?  Here’s quick overview of how each personality type approaches the options before them:

You are a unique combination of the four behavior styles shown above. Making decisions is sure to be quick if you are a D/I and if you are an S/C watch out – it might take some time!

But what if you are a D/C? Then you may be a mix – carefully weighing the options and being decisive.

Or if you are an S/I you are more likely to rely on your emotions and resist making a decision if it’s risky, will lead to conflict, or impact someone poorly.

Analysis Paralysis

Do you ever find yourself getting caught up in analysis paralysis – overthinking a decision or avoiding making a decision altogether? Believe it or not, that’s actually making a decision!

Putting decisions off or allowing decisions to consume too much of your time is draining. What if you tried practicing being more decisive, even if you don’t make the best decision?

Eager to simplify the decision making process?  Want to make superior decisions personally and professionally?

Try this…

1. Develop Routines

Routines simplify your life by eliminating the need to make numerous decisions every day. Following a set pattern frees up your head space for more critical decisions and naturally weaves in self-care, while still allowing you the flexibility to adjust the amount of time invested in each activity or even the activities themselves as you see fit.

If you haven’t already, I urge to cultivate a morning and an evening routine; a consistent way of beginning and ending your days. Don’t worry! You aren’t locked into a routine forever. I’m regularly tweaking my routines so that they serve me best.

What other routines might you incorporate into your life or work that would reduce the number of decisions you need to make?

2, Eliminate Options

Another way to narrow down the number of decisions to be made in a day is to eliminate options. Rather than having to decide what to wear every day, settle on a “uniform” like Steve Job’s black turtle neck or Mark Zuckerberg’s gray t-shirt. Keep it simple.

Another way to eliminate options is to have boundaries. For example, if you start your work day at 7:30am and someone wants to meet with you at 6am, it’s not an option!

What other choices could you eliminate? Consider simplifying what you eat for breakfast or lunch, responding to emails at a specific time, or limiting frequency of your phone use?

3. Expand Your Options

Adding more options might seem counterintuitive, but sometimes the way you view the decision isn’t helping! For example, if you were trying to decide whether or not to write a book, you might think there are just two options: to write or not to write.

What if there was an assortment of other creative options that might appeal to you more, such as making a video, collaborating on a book, enlisting the help of a writing coach, or ____________. Perhaps as you explore the additional options one excites you far more than writing a book.

How might you intentionally expand your options?

4. Get Comfy Saying NO!

Nothing slows down the decision making process more than being uncomfortable with saying no or the possibility of letting someone down. Inadvertently, by dragging your feet you actually are making a decision AND you end up doing the very thing you are hoping to avoid… letting someone down!

Experiment with tolerating the discomfort of simply saying no.

5. View In Light Of Your Values

Evaluating the pros and cons of a decision is nothing new. However, have you ever considered your options in light of your values? Decisions that align with and honor your values are more likely to be excellent choices!

Not sure of your values? Identify them now!

6. Set A Time Limit

The majority of the time, agonizing over a decision doesn’t lead you to superior decisions. Now, clearly it depends on the significance of the decision you face, but limiting your decision to a set amount of time: 5 minutes, 20 minutes, or 1 hour, forces you to go with your gut. The more you go with your gut the more you learn to trust your gut.

No matter how you go about making decisions, you might not make the best decision every time, but you can learn from every decision you make.

How much time will you allow yourself to make a decision? I know – that’s a decision! 🙂

7. Utilize A Framework

Structure helps to simplify the process of making decisions! Here are several frameworks you might use depending on the decision you are making.

Option #1: The “If/Then” Framework

If I buy the red SUV, then…. If I buy the blue truck, then…. This is a good way to unearth beliefs that you didn’t even know you had.

Option #2: SCORE!

This framework weighs your options in light of your values (See #5 above). For each of your Top 5 Values, rate your options using this scoring method:

1 = doesn’t align to my values ß  à 7 = totally aligns with my values.

It’s critical that your decisions are in alignment with your values.

Option #3: The Whole Brain Perspective

Explore your options in light of the HBDI thinking preferences. Choose the form below that best fits your situation. Examining your decision this way forces you to think about the decision in a way you wouldn’t normally think.

Option #4: RIGHT!

No one likes pain! In an attempt to avoid pain, you evaluate decisions by what could go wrong. What if you considered your options in light of all that could go RIGHT? Not perfect, but right!

Option #5: Hats

Consider your decision from a variety of unexpected perspectives as you figuratively put on these six hats:

1. The White Hat (Information)

What information do you already have? What information do you need to gather?

2. The Black Hat (What could go wrong)

Explore the options from a pessimistic angle. What are the weaknesses, potential problems, etc.

3. The Red Hat (Intuition – your gut – how you really feel)

What are your emotions telling you to do? What do you feel like you should do? What will others think?

4. The Green Hat (Creativity)

What are the creative solutions/options you’ve not yet uncovered? Brainstorm those possibilities.

5. The Yellow Hat (Positivity)

Explore the options from an optimistic angle. What are all the benefits, opportunities, the value that might arise out of this option?

6. The Blue Hat (Quality control)

This is the final hat. Did you give adequate attention to the other five hats? Sum up everything you’ve discovered while wearing the other five hats. Then make your decision

8. Seek God

Prayerfully considering your critical options is always a smart choice! If He has a leaning, He will make that clear. If He doesn’t make it clear, odds are that any of your options will do!

In the end, my husband and I set a time limit, narrowed the choices down based on our criteria and took a leap of faith booking our time in Cabo at a property we’ve never been to before. It was a risk! And we loved it! While a completely different experience, we would go back to that spot again!

There really are no “perfect” decisions – just “good enough” decisions. When you know what you want and then set out to make the most of your decision, you really can’t lose!

The tips I’ve shared aren’t just for you – use them as a team too!

What keeps you from making decisions?

Originally posted on 7/16/19, this post has been updated and revised just for you!