Making Good Decisions

We face a barrage of decisions every day of our lives. How can you be sure you are making the right decisions? Is there a way to make decisions with confidence, without second guessing yourself.

The outcome of any decision can never be weighed until it is made and acted upon. However, there are a few things you can do to make sure that you are basing your decisions on sound principles and not fear, guilt, or concern that you will disappoint someone.

In order to make a strong, confident decision you have to take responsibility for the decision. There is no passing the buck when you make a decision based on what you feel is right, following your gut instinct.

Be prepared to stand your ground and take the good with the bad based on your decision. You must adopt this mentality before you can even become a good decision maker.

One of the first questions to ask yourself when making an important decision is: Do you know you are doing the right thing? You can feel confident about decisions that line up with your spiritual, moral, and ethical values. If you are making a decision with which you have a conflict at the deepest core of your being you will not be confident in your decision.

Failure to demonstrate confidence in your decision fails to rally your support network behind you and may actually undermine your credibility as a decision maker.

You must be careful not to allow money, personal ambition, or dreams of glory to unduly influence your decisions or you will not find peace when faced with life's biggest decisions.

Second, you must ask yourself whether you are motivated by fear or guilt. Both fear and guilt will lead you to make the wrong decision more often than not. Fear prevents you from broadening your horizons and reaching toward new ideas and perspectives. The attitude that "We've never done it that way before," inspires fear and must be put away.

Guilt about how your decision will affect yourself or others must be carefully examined in decision making. It is important to make decisions in line with your personal beliefs, but often undue influence from others will prevent us from making decisions to do what we need to do.

Fear and guilt are intermingled to inhibit decision making. You may fear what people think, fear how the outcome of your decision will affect you, or feel guilt that your decision is in your own best interest.

Go back to question number one. If you feel you are doing the right thing then you have to let go of the fear of other's perception or judgments of you. You have to do what you believe is right given the situation and information you have available at the time. Then, trust yourself.

Obviously, it is wise to weight the pros and cons of any decision. This aspect of decision making is intimately tied to knowing your decision is right and shedding fear that keeps you from going with your gut instinct. The age old method of physically listing the pros and cons of any decision becomes helpful when decisions are unclear.

Make your list of pros and cons. Discuss tough decisions with mentors and people you trust, but ultimately be true to yourself and trust your gut instinct. This is crucial to making a confident decision.

If you question yourself or make a decision contrary to what you fell is right it is not going to be a strong confident decision. Chances are you will be wishy-washy. That attitude will be projected to others.

Follow the process for good decision making to make confident decisions in your career and personal life and you will begin to see the tied turn in your favor, without hurting others in the process.

Source:
Personal knowledge and 23 years ministry and pastoral counseling experience