Decision Making

How ready are you to make a decision right now?  At any given moment we must make hundreds of decisions and we make them without any thought as to what the decision will mean to us in the future (or the next stroke of the keyboard).  Our key moments of decision lead to actions which have lasting consequences which can be both good or bad.  We’ve all hit send to soon and had to resend another message to cover the mistake of the first send.

When do you think you are the most vulnerable in your decision making process?

We are the most vulnerable when we are:

*Lonely

*Restless

*Stressed

*Preoccupied

*Surrounded by the noise and distraction of the world

*Our guard is down

There are some very simple solutions to lessen our vulnerability.  If you have ever had a serious illness or surgery, you might recall being told not to make any life altering or big decisions due to the fact you are not at your best, at full strength, not 100% in your focus and clarity.  The same is true for other times in our lives also, do not make big decisions when you are under duress, under extreme stress, after a loss such as a death, a car accident, a divorce and those types of life events.  Unplug yourself from your technology and be quiet and really think about the consequences of your decision before you jump into action.  We as a nation are “Re-Actors” to everything.  We thrive on drama!  Drama only works for ratings not real life.

You might also consider using this acronym: H-A-L-T.

H = Hungry:  Never allow yourself to get too hungry in any area of your life.  When we wait too long to eat, to exercise, to have fun, check or finances, have healthy relationships and conversations…poor decisions WILL follow.

A = Anger:  When our anger comes to the point of a rolling boil with no release, poor decisions are dead ahead and clouded judgement WILL lead to regret.

L = Lonely:  Today more than ever in history we are connected constantly and totally isolated and alone at the same time.  This is a very dangerous place to be.  It doesn’t take very long for us to become withdrawn and unable and unwilling to go out and put ourselves out there in real time, face to face.  Our isolation leads to an obsession of doing almost anything to feel loved and to be accepted.  Indeed we even begin to doubt our worthiness!  This disconnection will also lead to poor decisions.  In this state we begin to make decisions by consensus.  We polled our buddies on Facebook, and Twitter to ask their advice on what to do and we neglect to ask the most important person – Ourselves!  This WILL lead to enormous withdrawal and consequences which will not make you happy.

T = Tired:  We are  sleep deprived nation.  Wise decisions cannot be made without adequate sleep.  Naysayers are only fooling themselves.  Each of us needs down time to disconnect, and re-engage with our spouses, significant other, our children, friends, to have some fun, enjoy a hobby or passion.  These renew our mind, our body and our soul.  Our bodies were designed to sleep in a specific natural rhythm cycle to repair our cells, to grow, to release those wonderful hormones we need to feel good during the day, to allow our subconscious to process and work on the past day’s events, challenges and joys.  Without disconnecting, rest, and sleep – poor decisions WILL plague every area of your life.

If you find yourself in a place where things are not going the way you thought they would and one poor decision after another is piling up in your life, I encourage you to do a self-check on what may be happening in your life.  Take a good hard look.  The answer is starring you right in the face.

Here’s the thing, we don’t suddenly get to this place of massive derailment in our lives.  Derailment happens one poor decision at a time.  Over time these poor decisions begin to pile up and we feel drained, or you might say:  “I can’t get a break!”  The truth is you can get a break by looking at your past actions.

 

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