When to Make a Decision

​All the tools in the world won’t help make a great decision if you’re feeling bloody awful. There’s a time when, counter to a well-known quote by Teddy Roosevelt, making no decision is a good call. If you’re worn down, wrung out, can’t see the wood for the trees or the light at the end of the tunnel or any lights or woods or other such metaphorical symbol for hope or perspective, then that’s the time to delay if you can. Delay until you’ve got the bandwidth to make the call.
 
Feeling flat or overwhelmed will really impact what we believe is possible for us, yet when we’ve got space - clear thinking space and the headspace for it, quieting the internal chatter, the critic and the ‘shoulds’, and focusing on what we truly want and the best possible outcome that could happen, are important factors.  

Never make a decision when you are upset, sad, jealous or in love.
​- Mario Teguh

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 If we’re talking about optimal decision-making, the list is a little like this:
 

• Know your values and what deeply matters to you – use this to guide you
• Be in a balanced emotional state so you’ve got clear thinking and the ability to see both the potential up and down sides of things
• Decide how you’ll decide - pick a decision-making strategy and/or tool
• Trust yourself – trust you’re making the best decision you can with the information available today. Of course there’s no guarantee that things will eventuate as you hoped, but you can count on yourself to navigate what does happen the best way you can
• Show up to do the thinking and deciding rested, well-fed and make it earlier in the day so your decision making battery is fully charged
• Do it! Decide.
• Do it! Act on that decision. Nothing happens from the best laid plans, things happen when we put them into action.