How to Make a Decision

PART 1:   General Tips

We make decisions every day; everything we say and do is the result of a decision, whether we make it consciously or not.

Don't overthink it. If you try too hard, you may miss the obvious.

After your decision is made, new information may come to light.  Don't be afraid to go through the decision-making process again if this happens.

Good or sound decision-making is necessary for living life productively and efficiently.

Making good decisions is habit-forming. Each time you make the right decision, you gain the necessary self-confidence to keep making good decisions.

PART 2:   Specific How To

List your options:

It may appear that there is only one course of action, but that is usually not accurate. List every option you can think of. Refrain from evaluating at this point; jus brainstorm and write down every idea that comes to mind, as crazy as it may seem.

Ask other people for suggestions.

Weigh the possible outcomes. For every option, list every possible outcome and label it as positive or negative. One way to do this is to put a plus sign (+) next to a positive outcome and a minus sign (-) next to each negative outcome.

Ask for Advice from people you trust.

Make a choice:

This is, of course, the hardest step, but there will hopefully be a decision on your list that is backed up by both logic and intuition.

Evaluate your decision:

This is the most important step. If you don't evaluate your decision afterward, you won't learn anything from it. Ask yourself whether the outcome was what you expected. Would you do it again?