Decision Making Process

Life is not a matter of chance… it is a matter of choice.

In this article you will learn:

• How to make good decisions
• How to improve your decision making skills
• Step-by-step decision making process
• One decision which can make a huge difference between success and failure in your life

While I’m writing this article, I’m sitting in the library. There are several reasons why I’ve decided to join the library and write from here:

• It’s quiet and there is no Wi-Fi here (at first I was disappointed but soon I realized the benefits)
• Changing my environment has a positive impact on my concentration and focus
• Being surrounded by the books makes me feel more creative and inspired
• If I need some information I can just take the relevant book from the shelf and gain some knowledge

As you see, there are many reasons why I’ve decided to write from the library. And I know I’ve made a good decision.

As a result of this decision, I feel relaxed, focused, peaceful and my mind is clear and sharp.

A few months ago I was given extremely valuable advice from a successful 7-figure business owner. His advice was: “Do everything for more than one reason.”

If you have multiple reasons why you are doing something you increase your chances of making good decisions (the stronger your reasons the better). Doing everything for more than one reason also significantly increases your productivity and saves you time. Our most valuable asset is time, so any advice that can save you time is worth remembering. Remember that! 🙂 In the end, the purpose of this article is to help you save time making decisions or deciding what is the best thing to do.

There are many decisions we need to make each day, like when to wake up, what to eat, whether to exercise or not, etc. Although these decisions don’t seem so important, in the long term, our quality of life will depend on how mindfully we make those simple decisions.

I see a huge difference in the quality of my life when I wake up early, eat healthy and do some physical exercise, as opposed to the days when I used to stay in bed late, eat junk food, and not do any physical exercise.

If we want to change our lives, we need to be aware of the decisions we make each day. Repetition of those decisions becomes habits. Our habits define our character. Your daily decisions and routines will in the long term define who you are. So if we want to change, we need to start changing our daily decisions.

When it comes to making important life decisions, there is a difference between hoping you made a good decision and knowing that you made a good decision. The worst thing that can happen is to regret your decision after you’ve made it. In order to reduce the risk of regret, I suggest you follow this 10-step decision making process:

1. Think Rational
   Never, under any circumstances, make any important decision when you are under the influence of strong emotions (no matter if they are positive or negative). Wait until you are calm and able to think rationally and logically. Quick, impulsive, emotional decisions are usually not good decisions. Try to be objective. Ask yourself questions like: If someone else needed to make the same decision, what advice would I give to him/her?
2. Identify the Problem
   If you fully understand what the problem is then it’s much easier to make the appropriate decision to deal with it. What exactly is the problem? Who should be involved in finding the solution? Is it your responsibility only or do you need to involve someone else? How important is to make this decision at all?
3. Set up a Deadline
   When do you need to make a decision? It’s very important to be clear about how much time you have available. If you don’t set up a deadline, you can end up procrastinating on making an important decision. Circle a specific date on your calendar for your decision-making deadline.
4. Gather Information
   Before making any important decisions, gather as much information as possible to help you make the right decision. Search for any relevant information that will bring you closer to a solution and that will narrow down your choices. If you need to search the Internet, make sure that you find trustworthy information, check domains that end in .org, .gov or .edu. Keep in mind the timeframe available and try to gather as much possible information as you can, but in the same time, beware of information overload.
5. Ask for Help
   Is there anyone you can contact who can help you with your decision? It’s always a good idea to find an expert who can give you valuable advice.
6. List all Options
   What are your options? List all possible options that you can think of. You can also consider the option of not making a decision at all (in some cases, maybe the best thing you can do is to wait with the decision, but don’t use this as excuse to not make decision that you know for sure needs to be made). Think of all possible alternatives. Which alternative will best suit your objectives? If you can’t see the best solution try to combine some of the different options you already listed.
7. Evaluate
   Define the best-case and worst-case scenarios for what can happen as a result of each alternative. Define the pros and cons. What are the positive and negative consequences of each alternative? Visualize yourself making each of the listed options and notice your reaction in each case. This can help you eliminate some of the options you don’t want.
8. Eliminate Risk
   Choose an option that will bring you the best result with the lowest risk. Make sure that even if the worst case scenario happens you will still be able to handle the situation.
9. Take Action
   Once you’ve made a decision, don’t think about it more. All of the thinking is done before you make a decision; once the decision is made, all you need to do is take action! There is no point in making a decision if you will not do anything about it. Many people are afraid to take responsibility for making important decisions and they’d rather avoid situations like that. Fear comes as a lack of knowledge, preparation and organization. If you go through all of the previous steps before you make a decision, you will know that you have considered all alternatives and have chosen the best option with the lowest risk.
10. Review
    Has the decision you made given you the expected result? What did you learn? Even if something didn’t go well, remember that mistakes are failures only if you don’t learn anything from them. You made the best choice with the information and knowledge that you had.

Whenever you can’t make a decision between two things, flip a coin. It doesn’t matter which side it lands on, because the moment coin is in the air, you know what you want to result to be.

One Decision That Can Change Your Life Forever

A few days ago I was listening to Anthony Robbins’ Self Mastery lessons, where he shared the secret of his huge life success.

A decision he made many years ago has completely changed his life. This decision can for sure bring success to your life as well.

It was the decision to fully commit to CANI – Constant And Never-ending Improvement. He decided that every day of his life he will learn something new. Since he has made that decision, each day for him is an opportunity to learn, improve, grow and contribute to the world. By committing to excellence, he has drastically raised his standards, and as a result, the quality of his life has significantly increased.

One simple decision can change our lives forever and we all have the ability to make such powerful decisions. At the same time, wrong decisions can negatively influence not only our lives, but also the lives of the people around us.

This decision making process was created to help you with difficult decisions (personal or business). Check out this decision-making process infographic one more time to make sure that you understood all the steps:

Written by Eva Lu

Eva Lu is an ex engineer who decided to give up her successful career and dedicate her life to inspire and motivate others to find the best in themselves. She founded the “Mind of a Winner” website because she strongly believes that success is a skill developed by persistent people and her passion is to motivate others to become persistent enough. Her inspiration and her mentors are self-made millionaires who helped thousands of people to change their lives and who managed to build careers with their passion and vision towards doing something what they love. She also helps young entrepreneurs with business advices and encourages them not to give up on their dreams. She teaches them how to turn dreams into clear visions and ideas, and ideas into actions and results.
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