Seven Questions to Ask Yourself to Know You Are Making the Right Decision

Posted: March 4th, 2009 | Filed under: Business and Entrepreneurship, Intuition In Business, Leverage and Outsourcing | Tags: Confident, Confident Decisions, How To Make Good Decisions, Make Good Decisions |

One of the benefits of growing more “mature” (ahem), is that I find that I can make decisions more quickly and with greater certainty.

Yes, it’s the experience.
Yes, it’s the maturity.
Yes, it’s all the personal development exploration I do.

But when I step back and observe my decision making process from above, I see there are a series of tests and questions I ask myself when making a decision.

Seeing that I feel more on-purpose, and am making money doing what I love, I think I’m on to something.

Here is the 7 Step Process I run through when making decisions.

1. Am I Clear About What I Want?
The clearer I am about what I want, the easier it is to say NO when “opportunities” come my way. Clarity has me stop and realize, Nope, this isn’t an opportunity for me, but it could be an opportunity for someone else. Knowing what I want and where I’m going, I see things for what they are and know if they are in line with what I’m up to.

This erases the guilt sometimes associated with saying “no”.

2. Am I Choosing Between the Lesser of Two Evils, Or Am I Choosing What I Want In An Absolute Sense?
Given the option of “Crappy Job A” or “OK Job With Horrible Boss B”, which one should I choose? Neither!
Sometimes the situations decisions color our judgement. Asking myself this question reminds me to step back and take a look from a different perspective.

3. Which of These Options DON’T I Want?
Like sifting through a huge box of old photos, removing the ones that are “Not It” help ease the feeling of overwhelm and focus on what IS available, and even see the gaps in which something can be created.
But you’ll never reach that clarity until you clear some space.

4. I’ve Painted My Ideal Picture. Does The Picture of Life After Decision “X” Get Me Closer to My Ideal Picture?
This question is similar to Tip #1, Clarity, except it has me zoom in to the habit level.

If “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit,” (Aristotle) are the actions associated with the picture Life After Decision “X” consistent with the habits of My Ideal Picture?

For example, if my Dream is to be a national, elite-level bike racer, and Decision “X” puts me in a position of traveling for work and locked in seminar rooms for over 50% of my time, something has to give.

While I’m all for creating new possibilities of living and being, sometimes it’s what we Don’t do that has us grow, rather than what we DO do.

5. Am I Going To Do What I Say I’m Going To Do?
Let’s say your dream is to be a professional writer, to make a living just writing. If an opportunity comes your way that seems lucrative but not in line with The Dream(see tip #1, Clarity), should you pass it up?

There are times that an opportunity can seem like it’s taking you away from The Dream, but what if the opportunity provides working capital to fulfill on The Dream? You reason, you can still work on the video blogging on the side. Right?

If you’re like 90% of people out there, The Dream gets pushed aside in lieu of thing like, well, sleep. Or the casual dinner here, and the coffee with friends there.

Asking myself the question, “Am I going to do what I say I’m going to do?” puts me in the frame of mind to look at my schedule and plan PLAN NON-NEGOTIABLE TIMES to continue my dream. Do I really have a plan in place that will allow me to have my cake and eat it too? It is possible, but it takes something to make it happen.

Since finding the amazing productvity program Wake Up Productive, I have been able to put into motion habits, ways of thinking, and an ease around planning, executing, and implementing steps towards fulfilling my dreams in a way that I feel alive and invigorated, not burnt out, guilty, or lacking.

6. What is My Gut Telling Me About This?
On the surface, I think there is no scientific, analytically based way to prove How or That the Gut Check works.
Except that I know it works for me, and I have heard stories of successful entrepreneurs who trust their gut.

Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin companies (Air, Music, etc), has dyslexia and doesn’t necessarily read all of the lengthy contracts put before him. Instead, it is reported that he trusts his gut to tell him which to sign and which not to sign.

What is your gut telling you?

7. What Does My Mentor Say About This?
One of the best ways to learn is to latch yourself on to a mentor.

A mentor is someone who has done what you want to do, has gone through the steps you are going to have to go through to achieve your dream, and can give advice on a situation.

To quote Albert Einstein, “We cannot solve problems at the level at which we created them.” What may seem to us like a huge grey mass of a problem will seem clear and straightforward to a mentor. A mentor has the experience, the “altitude” with which to say, “Oh yeah, all you need to do is X, Y, Z, and you’re good to go.”

Experience is a great teacher. If you don’t have it, find someone who does and pick their brain.

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I hope these Seven Questions help to streamline and add ease to your decision making process.

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