Deciding to change for the better

Most people do not realise the profound effects of making decisions. Often, we go through life completely oblivious to the thoughts that we are thinking and the actions that we are taking.

Every single decision that we make daily shapes our current reality and feelings. They shape who we are as people as we habitually follow through with the decisions that we make without even realising it.

If we are unhappy with the results that we are getting in life right now, making the effort to change how we make better decisions will be the key to creating the person we want to be and the life we want to have in the future.

When we make real changes in life, we make it a positive habit to apply tangible action to every decision until it is completed. As we practise this daily, we will feel more confident with following through to the next decision that arises.

The commitment to one’s goals is perhaps the most important rule for success. Without it, we can get side-tracked through procrastination, laziness, bad habits, rationalisation and a host of goal-defeating problems.

Here are a few ways you can go about making life-changing decisions:

• Realising the power of better decision-making – Before you start deciding, you need to understand what a decision does. Any decision that you make causes a consequential chain of events to happen. It is therefore important to understand that deciding means agreeing and accepting the consequences that follow. If you are aware of the consequences that might arise, you are more likely to make healthy decisions that support your goals. This will also help you ‘predict’ the future.
• Following your ‘gut’ instinct – We often take too long to decide because we are afraid of the outcome. We can spend a long time carefully planning, analysing and considering the pros and cons before reaching a decision. This can be a very time-consuming process. Instead, learn to trust your gut. Our gut instinct is usually the right decision or the one that we truly wanted to go with. Even if we end up making a poor decision, going with our gut makes us more confident decision-makers compared to those who take all day to decide or even never decide or procrastinate.
• Following through with your decisions – When we decide, act on it or just do it. Commit to making a real change. It is pointless if we decide and play out the scenario in our mind but fail to act and do anything about it.
• Maintaining a flexible approach – This may sound counter-intuitive but deciding does not mean that we cannot be open to other options. For example, you have decided to lose weight over the next month through cardio exercises. If another option becomes available, you do not have to just stick with cardio. You could be open to losing weight through different methods of dieting as long as it helps you reach your end goal. Rather than being stubborn in your approach, flexibly embrace any new knowledge that brings you closer to accomplishing your initial decision.
• Learning from your past decisions – Learning from the decisions we have made in the past can be an excellent platform to base our future decision-making upon. If we consider our past successes and failures, we can ask ourselves questions like: “What can I do differently, this time, to make it work?” The truth is we will mess up at times when it comes to making decisions. Instead of beating ourselves up about it, we can choose to learn something from it. Ask ourselves – What was positive about the decision I made? What was negative about it? What can I learn from it so I can make a better decision next time?
• Getting excited about making new decisions – Enjoy the decision-making process. Unfortunately, many people do not. Although decision-making might not be the most enjoyable thing in the world, when we begin to practice it often, life becomes a game of opportunity.

Making decisions will become a lot easier through practice to the point where we do not have to think about it. Any decision we make from this point onwards has the potential to affect our lives profoundly. Opportunities are always waiting for us when we decide and take action.

Self-reflection exercise

• Are there any areas of your life that you would like to get better results in? Consider how your thinking, emotions, habits and beliefs have influenced the results you are currently getting in these areas?
• What decisions can you make to start achieving better results in these areas of your life tomorrow?