“Life is a matter of choices, and every choice you make makes you.” – John C Maxwell
It’s often said that decisions are made by head or by heart. This suggests that the process of making a decision must be either one or the other; a clinical, calculated process of choosing the option you think is right, or a more instinctive, emotional process of choosing the option that feels right. So, head or heart, which one leads to the right decision?
There is no such thing as a right or wrong decision. You can’t know what the outcome of any decision is going to be until you’ve made it, so at the time of making it, it’s just a decision. Of course, if things don’t turn out the way you wanted them to after making a decision, you naturally believe the decision you made to have been the wrong one. But, what’s to say that swinging your decision the other way at the time of making it would have created the outcome you wanted?
Should do is never as powerful or as motivational as want to do.
Without motivation, you will never realise your true potential, so any decision you make must be yours. Learn to go with what you already know… know what you want to achieve, know what motivates you to achieve it, and you already know which decision represents the “right” decision for you.
Substitute the word decision with the word choice.
Agonising over decisions only serves to sap your energy. We make hundreds of decisions in an average day and we don’t waste time agonising over every single one: red socks or blue socks; jam or marmalade; tea or coffee? You see, dozens of choices are made instinctively in everyday life, so why not decisions? Instead of getting stuck under weighty decisions, simply make a choice. With the benefit of hindsight, you may come to realise that the option you chose didn’t lead to the outcome you wanted, but that doesn’t mean you’re all out of options. The outcome of the rest of your life is the result of countless decisions – is anyone decision really that important? Think of it this way; if you choose marmalade on your toast, it doesn’t mean you can’t choose jam next time, right?
No one decision in itself will decide the outcome of the rest of your life.
Here’s a thought: if you really can’t decide between two options, then tossing a coin is going to be as good a way as any to have the decision made for you. Heads for one, tails for the other. Go ahead and flip a coin and see how the call makes you feel. Your thoughts and emotions as you watch the coin spin will probably provide you with the answer to the question of what you really want, but as Jim Rohn once wisely said, “It doesn’t matter which side of the fence you get off on sometimes. What matters most is getting off. You cannot make progress without making decisions.”
Don MacNaughton is a High-Performance Coach and has worked tirelessly to help clients achieve success in the world of sport and business over the past 15 years. The next, highly popular, NLP Diploma and Life Coaching Certificate course starts in April 2019. Click here for more information or to sign up.