Our daily lives are full of decisions. From the simplest choices we need to make when we wake up to decisions involving our future.
All these choices and options that constantly present themselves can have a negative effect, making people feel lost amidst so many possibilities.
Therefore, indecision can disrupt your routine and your goals for days, weeks, or even months.
Understanding our needs, goals, and even our emotional state are factors that can help us make decisions with more confidence and assertiveness.
If you are interested in tips and strategies on how to make the right decision in important moments, check out our article.
Why is it important to formulate strategies for making decisions?
Understand the main reasons for adopting a strategy before making any decisions.
- Reduces information overload: stopping and analyzing information is an important step in filtering out only what matters for your decision.
- Minimizes your errors: applying techniques and strategies to make decisions is a proven way to avoid errors influenced by impulsiveness and momentary emotions.
- Improves your consistency: once your strategy is consolidated, you will have more consistency and coherence when making choices in general.
- Generates self-knowledge: by reflecting on their decisions and strategies, people naturally learn more about themselves, their values, and priorities.
What is important in a strategy for making decisions?
Below are some key principles that will help you understand how to make more assertive decisions.
Choose a time to decide
One of the most common ways to make a mistake when making a choice is not thinking about it enough.
This happens when we don’t have time to dedicate to this reflection.
Therefore, recognize that making decisions, whether difficult or not, requires time and dedication.
Try to set aside about half an hour for simpler decisions and a few hours throughout your day for more important ones.
In this way, investing time in making your decisions may save you more time after you’ve completed them.
Define the decision and what is related to it.
Try to understand well what you need to choose and everything related to that decision.
Think about the factors involved, how they influence you, and how they will be affected by your choice. This will help you understand more quickly which option to choose.
Evaluate your options.
Avoid thinking in terms of just “yes” or “no.” If you’ve adopted the first value and have time to think, evaluate all possible scenarios before making decisions.
Another important point is to consider whether a decision needs to be made at that moment or if it’s worthwhile not to commit.
Strategies for making difficult decisions
1. Think about your values
When making difficult and important decisions, always remember the values that are most important to your life.
That way, when the time comes to decide on something, you will know whether that choice aligns with your values or not.
2. Talk about it
Some people need to express their thoughts verbally in order to understand them.
Therefore, if you think that talking about your choice will help you make the best decision, do it with someone you trust.
This person doesn’t need to be an expert on the subject. They just need to listen to what you have to say, try to understand, and give you space.
By the end of the conversation, there’s a good chance you’ll have already made your decision.
3. Ask for perspectives
There are times when people with expertise in that context or experience in that situation can help you.
Their advice can help you make the best decisions in the quickest and most efficient way.
However, it’s important to carefully choose who you listen to and know which recommendations to follow.
This is crucial because, although experience can help, the context might not be the same, and that advice might not be helpful in your situation.
Therefore, if you don’t feel comfortable following the advice in question, don’t feel obligated to do so.
4. Test your decisions
If you can test the scenario to make difficult decisions, don’t be afraid to test it.
Trying to evaluate the results of a choice in a controlled environment can greatly help when making a decision that will have long-term consequences.
5. Align your expectations
Try to balance your expectations with reason in that context.
This isn’t an easy task, but generally, people can’t act completely rationally.
That’s why it’s important to understand your expectations, as they will help you understand the decision you truly want to make.
6. Identify the pros and cons
A simple way to help visualize the best options is to make a list of the pros and cons of each choice.
Using this list, it will be easier to identify what is most important for your decision.
7. Give your mind a break.
Even with these tips and strategies, if you still feel overwhelmed with information, give your mind a break and find an activity to distract yourself.
Creative idleness is an important and relevant factor in achieving the best results, because your brain will be making decisions unconsciously.
20 quotes about making difficult decisions
Below are some quotes about making difficult decisions that can help you make the best choice.
- “Sometimes, making a difficult decision is the first step towards a better life.”
- “Deciding is like choosing between two unknown paths, both full of challenges.”
- “Difficult decisions are the ones that define us, shaping our destiny.”
- “The weight of a difficult decision is as much the uncertainty of the future as the weight of the past.”
- “At life’s crossroads, the courage to make a decision defines our character.”
- “Deciding between what is right and what is easy can be the most difficult decision of all.”
- “The road less traveled often requires the most difficult decision.”
- “Making a difficult decision is like swimming against the current – challenging, but it can lead to extraordinary places.”
- “Sometimes, it takes courage to accept that the difficult decision is the wisest.”
- “In difficult decisions, it is the heart that fights against the mind, seeking balance between reason and emotion.”
- “Life is made of difficult choices; it is in them that we find our true power of decision.”
- “Deciding is like balancing on a razor’s edge, between the fear of the unknown and the hope of the future.”
- “Sometimes, difficult decisions are like the rising sun: painful at the moment, but they bring a new light.”
- “The courage to make a difficult decision is the strength that takes us beyond limits.”
- “At life’s crossroads, the silence of doubt is broken by the courageous voice of decision.”
- “Deciding is like weaving an invisible thread that connects past, present, and future.”
- “In the complex tapestry of life, difficult decisions are the knots that shape our destiny.”
- “Sometimes, the most difficult decision is the one that requires us to abandon the comfort of indecision.”
- “In difficult decisions, we find our true inner strength, the one that propels us beyond our fears.”
- “Life presents us with difficult choices not to challenge us, but to allow us to grow beyond our limits.”
Ready to make assertive decisions?
We hope our article has helped you with tips and strategies to ensure you always make the best possible decision in every situation.