Decision making starts the moment you wake up! Whether you’ll get out of bed immediately or stay a bit longer.  What you’re going to wear.  What you’re going to eat for breakfast or perhaps deciding if you have time for breakfast.  Some of these decisions are made automatically without too much thought but people often consult me about decisions they are finding hard to make.  One client was recently struggling with a difficult decision about whether to have a medical test on her unborn baby with all its possible consequences, and it brought to mind some of the things I’ve learned about decision making.

Some people such as doctors or emergency workers are highly trained to make very specific decisions so I’m not talking about that but about making some of the bigger decisions that we all have to get to grips with.  Will we take the job, move house, try for a baby, end the relationship or start our own business….

1. When you are striving with the pressure of making a decision, it can be hard to remember that decisions always get made – sooner or later.  Even not making a decision is a decision!  So take the pressure off yourself and know that a decision is bound to eventuate no matter what.
2. The fear of making a “wrong” decision can be paralysing.  What if there was no such thing as a “wrong” decision?  In fact a decision is always right – until you decide to judge it as being wrong, usually somewhere down the track when you don’t like how it is panning out.
3. All decisions lead you down a particular learning pathway.  If there are two options involved in a decision the first option will lead you down one pathway, the second option will lead you down another pathway.  Each pathway has its own learning – and who is to judge which learning pathway is “better” than another?
4. It’s good to get out of your head for a while – when trying to come to a decision it’s easy to let the mind spin round and round.  I have a specific way of assisting clients to decide which path to take.  I invite them to select a chair for each possible option and then have them sit in each one in turn while speaking from that option’s position. E.g. “I want to have the test done because….”
   I encourage them to just say whatever comes up until there is nothing left to say.  Then from a position of neutral they look at where they felt the most energy or intensity – positive or negative.
5. Follow the positive energy.  I’ve learned that the most important thing when making a decision is to follow the option with the most positive energy – regardless of what the mind says.  The mind can be tricky and tell us all sorts of stories but our body and feelings let us know what the truth is.
6. Don’t try to make decisions that you can’t yet make.  The mind tends to zoom into the future and get itself into a knot about a decision that can’t be made until other things have happened first.  Avoiding this trap will save you a lot of angst.

I hope these tips help you – and yes, my client made her decision and the baby is well and will soon be here in person.