Last time we discussed how paralyzing it is to always need to “ping” others when you want and need to make a decision.
Exhausting, I know. It’s like walking in rain boots in wet cement!
Here’s a refresher to see if you are a “Decision Consulter”:
1. You immediate pull out your phone and call or text for input from others.
2. You are unable to make a decision on your own.
3. You believe you are not “smart” enough to make a decision on your own.
4. You don’t have enough information to make a decision on your own.
5. It doesn’t matter if it is a “Big” decision or a “Small” decision; you need help.
Let me ask you:
What happens when no one is available on the other end of the phone……..what do you do?
Okay, so what can you do? Exactly!?!
Let’s take them one by one.
1. Instead of whipping out your phone, close your eyes and check with your “gut”. Breathe in and out three times deeply first; this clams the mind and slows your pulse so you can actually feel what’s going on in your body. NOW, check in, what are you feeling.
2. The inability to make a decision is really “FEAR” of the unknown. So ask yourself; “….what am I really afraid of?…”
3. Yes, you are very smart, otherwise you wouldn’t be where you are today, (regardless of where that is), now let’s check in once more: “….what can possibly happen bad to me if I decide “yes”?……what can possibly happen to me if I decide “no”?……”Will life end as I know it?………If the outcome is less than optimal for me, I can learn from my choice, and continue to live and the next time I can make a better choice.”
4. Let’s face it NO ONE has every single bit of information to make a decision. Think back to the last time you ordered off of a fast food drive up window. Got it? OKAY, you have a picture, a price, a time frame and then you have to make that decision: From the speaker you are asked: “…..Is that all?…” What do you do? You change, amend, add to, you say “YES, that it.” then you pay and drive to the second window and an arm comes out with your drink first, then the bag with your food. What if you ordered a “diet soda” and say an “ice tea” comes out? What then? You had all the information and you ordered correctly. Things happen and this is normal and sometimes is is the norm unfortunately but, it doesn’t paralyze you. You may be put behind schedule, you may be angry, but again in that moment you need to make a decision: Do I live with what I received, or do I pull into a parking space and go in and complain and get what I ordered.
5. It is my experience that we place way to much emphasis on the items in our life which are trivial and we exaggerate what the real importance is to the item. The really big things is another story. I have witnessed people blow them off and not take action. They aren’t paralyzed they think that if they do not make a decision that the query will just go away. We all know that this isn’t true and there are sometimes dire consequences to not doing anything. Procrastination is a decision! The decision is NO.
What are you procrastination about today?