Where Will Your Decisions Lead You?

If you aren’t living a simpler life yet, you may need to strengthen your decision making ability. You may be making decisions that lead you in the opposite direction: saying yes to something you don’t really want to do and doesn’t match your current values, deciding not to exercise or have your quiet time today, or deciding to book three things back to back.

Each of these seemingly little decisions keep you stuck in a life you don’t want.

The problem for many of us is we don’t always make decisions in the best state of mind. We might be angry, tired, or not conscious. We might be feeling sad or not confident. So our decisions come from a place that may not be the best for us.

So while the optimal solution is to always make decisions when you are feeling upbeat, confident and clear, we know that can’t always happen.

What we can do is look where a decision has taken us and adjust. If we notice we feel very tired after a work day with no breaks, we can experiment with adding a few breaks. And see how that feels.

We try a day with no exercise and compare it to a day with exercise. We see what time of day works best.

We say yes when we should have said no and we implement a rule that we always go home and check our calendar first.

It’s like surfing and adjusting to the waves.

And by the results we get from our decisions we can learn to make better ones. If we keep the longer term in mind instead of trying to only do what we want in the short term.

When we base our decisions only on the immediate gratification of now, that usually doesn’t make us happy in the long run.

If you want to be happier and more satisfied, think of your options before you make a decision. Think long term as well as short term. Think of other ways of doing something. Think of how someone you admire would make this decision. When you think of more than one option, decisions become clearer.

What are some decisions you make regularly? Are there other options that might bring you closer to the life you want?

Photo by the Online Photography School