How to make the right decision ways. The morning is wiser than the evening

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It is easy to make a choice when one of the options is obviously better / more profitable / more promising. And it is excruciatingly difficult when equivalent alternatives are presented on the scales.

website will try to restore your healthy sleep and peace of mind. We bring to your attention 7 ways to get out of a stupor and make the right decision.

From the outside it might look like mild form split personality, but try to imagine another person (friend, colleague) in your place. Pretend that the problem of choice is his, not yours. Abstract, step aside, observe, and then give advice.

This technique helps to discard the emotions that clouded your mind in the throes of choice, and to take a more sober look at the essence of the issue.

2. Turn off information noise

It seems to us that what large quantity information we have, the more objectively we are able to assess the situation. However, the endless information flow only increases the tension and confuses our brain. We begin to overemphasize the insignificant facts and lose sight of the essential.

Temporarily turn off the information noise, relax and let your mind find the right answer on its own, because many scientists made their great discoveries in a dream for a reason.

3. Deny the obvious

By a certain age, each of us acquires our own style of behavior in general and decision-making in particular. Break the mold and argue with yourself by questioning the obvious facts about each scenario.

Take a pen, a piece of paper and write them out, then turn the sheet over and figure out what you will do in such circumstances. Very often the answer is beyond the boundaries of habitual thoughts.

4. Interview yourself

Before finally deciding on a decision, ask yourself 3 questions and answer each one for 10 minutes. So, if you follow the chosen path, then:

How will you feel in 10 days?
How will you feel in 10 months?
How will you feel in 10 years?

Listen to your feelings. Feeling the prospects is no less important than considering them. The pleasure or discomfort of visualizing your choice often speaks louder than reason.

5. Play epithets

Choose a few adjectives for each solution, and then apply them to yourself. Let's say you choose between 2 job offers: one is dynamic, requiring communication skills and constant movement, the other is stable, implying a thoughtful approach and attention to detail.

When all options have been considered and weighed, and there is still no clarity, accept the fact that all subsequent reasoning does not make sense. Stop wasting precious time and give yourself 15 minutes to sort things out. The very act of making a decision (of any kind) will eliminate anxiety and help you move forward, picking up speed.

How often do we think: "To know where to fall ...". How sometimes we regret the unused opportunities or erroneous actions. Everyone would like to know and understand how to make the right decision that would lead along the right path to the intended goal. However, sometimes we forget the most important thing. About what our

personality is in constant development. Solving new challenges, facing unusual and unusual circumstances, we change. This means that goals, values, priorities also do not stand still. They change with us. That is why it is better to put the question of how to make the right decision for the "here and now", and not looking ahead and even more so.

The author had a chance to talk with many people who sometimes found themselves at difficult crossroads in life. And this is what is typical for those who gave the impression of a self-confident, accomplished person - they did not regret the past! Not even if you had to change your lifestyle, country, field of activity many times. They did not revel in self-pity if they happened to lose all their possessions and start all over again. Therefore, in order to understand how to make the right decision, you need to be clearly aware that a lot depends on us, but not everything. What seems right at a certain moment may turn out to be wrong. That is why more

Inflexible people who find it difficult to reorganize and act according to circumstances suffer from failures the most. And our path is far from always smooth and spacious. Therefore, the first piece of advice: take off the burden of excessive responsibility. A person is arranged in such a way that in any situation he can find both joy and disappointment. Even if you have reached your "goal", it can always seem that "the palace is too small, and the molasses is too sweet."

So which one won't you regret? First of all, try to trust fate and intuition. Very often we hesitate and doubt if there is any, for example, between reason and feelings, between desires and duty. But this situation is also a stimulus for development. And intuition, which we often underestimate or drown out, is what helps to make the right decision. Do not think that this is something supernatural, "a voice from above." It's more like your subconscious is processing the situation in its own way. Our elementary, physiological reactions often tell us where we will feel good and where we will not. For example, if you are looking for new job listen to your intuition. If a conversation with a future boss sets you up in a positive way, this is good start. But if the building itself, the atmosphere reigning there, appearance and the manner of communication of employees cause tension and oppression, if you do not feel comfortable in this place - perhaps this is a warning.

And how to make the right decision in your personal life? The advice is the same. Do not try to reason, plan, think in lofty categories. Just feel the situation, immerse yourself in your feelings. How communication with this or that person will develop is often decided by the first minutes. And if we are comfortable, we feel safe, it means that this relationship has a future. Conversely, if we find it difficult to find common topics, if we are constrained, but, for example, the thought has settled in the mind that this is an excellent party, try to trust your intuition. We live with a person, and not with his status, money or position in society.

Another technique will tell you how to learn to make the right decisions. This method can be called "look into the future." The point is to try to imagine as much as possible possible development events,

following your choice. Are you offered a job but don't know whether to take it? Imagine yourself in this place in as much detail and color as possible in a year, two, five. What does your typical working day look like, how do you dress, how do you relax? Do you enjoy going into the office or are you trying to come up with excuses to show up as little as possible? By imagining this, you are subconsciously preparing yourself to make a decision.

And perhaps the most famous effective method- "sleep" with the problem. If you ask yourself a question in the evening before going to bed, in the morning you will receive a ready answer. Your subconscious or intuition will do all the work for you. Sometimes a conversation with an uninterested stranger helps. By speaking out loud all your arguments and doubts, you thereby come to a decision. Good luck to you!

Many decisions in our lives have uncertain outcomes. What to buy: a bike or a gym membership? Once you buy a bike, you can ride whenever and wherever you want. By purchasing a subscription, you can exercise on simulators and swim in the pool. Everything seems to be clear, but why is it so difficult and sometimes even painful to make a decision?

The fact is that when we make a decision, for example, with two options, then on the one hand we gain something, on the other - we lose. Having bought a bicycle, we will not be able to go to the pool and to the simulators. And after purchasing a subscription, we lose the opportunity to ride a bike with friends in the evenings and get a lot of pleasure associated with it.

Therefore, even when we make the right, as it seems to us, decision, we experience pain. But in many cases the problem is contrived. For example, the flour of the morning choice - tea or coffee - is sucked from the finger. Both options are good. You can drink tea, forget about coffee and get maximum pleasure. For some, this is obvious, while the other will experience doubts and spend mental energy on a choice where it is not necessary to make it. So, why is it sometimes not important what decision to make? Because it does not affect the quality of life and is unlikely to negatively affect the future. If you drink tea this morning instead of coffee, it doesn't matter (let's leave the possible harm of coffee aside).

Therefore, the first thing to ask yourself is: is it really something important, or can you choose one option at random and not worry? Many successful business people who make dozens of decisions a day know this, so they try to relieve themselves of the burden of everyday worries. They wear the same clothes and eat the same breakfast in the morning. An ordinary person brings himself to stress already at the beginning of the day, because for him clothes and breakfast are of great importance. But actually it is not. Stop worrying about nonsense.

What really matters are the important decisions:

Where to go to study?
Which company do you want to work for?
What product to start producing and what to refuse?
Is it necessary to learn Chinese?
What house to buy?
What skills to develop?

The implications of these decisions are important. They allow you to lose or earn money, spoil or improve relationships with loved ones, lead to growth or degradation.

Find out which questions are important to you and which are not. And then read on.

Decision making process

Definition of a problem, challenge, or opportunity. Problem: which dentist to go to treat teeth. Opportunity: what will be more important in five years - knowledge of English or Chinese?
Create an array of possible options. You can find several dental clinics on the Internet, and then ask your friends.
Estimating the costs and benefits associated with each option. On the one hand, even treatment in an inexpensive clinic costs a pretty penny, on the other hand, you still need to be treated, because then you will be forced to pay ten times more.
Choice of solution.
Implementation of the chosen solution.
Evaluate the impact of the decision and change it if necessary.

You may not go through all six stages in every instance of your life, and not always in sequence. But even so, there should not be many difficulties in making decisions, because there are step by step algorithm. Although life is usually not so simple. So what's the difficulty then?

Why is it so hard to make a decision sometimes?

Some of your decisions are so simple that you make them without thinking. But complex or ambiguous ones require more attention. They include:

Uncertainty: many facts and variables may be unknown.
Complexity: many interrelated factors.
High Risk Consequences: the impact of the decision on your fate and the fate of other people can be significant.
Alternatives: different alternatives may arise, each with its own set of advantages, uncertainties and consequences.
Interpersonal problems: You need to predict how other people will react to your decision.

All this flashes through your head in a second, so you don’t even have time to understand why this viscous inner feeling appeared. One thing is clear: what harder decision, the more time you need to allocate for reflection.

How to learn to make decisions

Before moving on to solving specific problematic issues, it is necessary to develop general mechanism making informed decisions. It consists of three parts:

What you focus on. What you think about shapes you as a person and changes you. Many people focus every day on things they cannot control. You can make decisions based on what you have, what you can influence.
Make a decision not to focus on what doesn't work. Sounds weird, but that's what most people do. We are so accustomed to cast doubt on everything that we do not notice how instead of working solutions, we first of all sort out non-working ones.
Assess situations. Life is changing every day, you are changing, the people around you and situations in general. Some problems may not be problems at all.

But this is all theory. AT real life we think in specific categories and are often limited in choice by many factors. Here are some practical requirements for the process of reflection that will allow you to consider any situation more carefully and soberly.

Make a decision quickly

Yes, in this case it may not be the best. However, even a bad decision is better than deliberation that drags on for days, months, or years. During this time, people psychologically put up with the fact that no decision will be made.

Successful, great people often make decisions quickly. They know that doubts and fears can ruin even the greatest undertakings. They change and adjust their plans as they go, learning along the way.

If you hate your job, why not make the decision right now to change it? Not to change, namely to make a decision. This means that you start looking for another job, improve your skills and prepare the ground. But you make the decision now, there is no need to delay.

Often we think along the following chain: information gathering - analysis - evaluation - information gathering - analysis - evaluation. And so on ad infinitum. Make a decision (you already know that you need to change the hated job) right now and only after that look for information that will help in the process of implementing your plan.

The more you wait, the more you will suffer. To be tormented by the fact that you perfectly understand the importance of making a decision, but do not accept it in any way.

Find a decision criterion

Should I take it? In many cases, everything is too obvious, in some - not. What are your criteria? For example:

What is good for me.
What is good for my loved ones.
What will bring money.
That will bring experience and knowledge.

Gather information after making a quick decision

Again: do not confuse and swap the first and third points. If you need to study, make a decision here and now, and only then start collecting information, looking for books, self-study books, enrolling in courses (all this can be done a minute later).

When the decision is made and the goal is set, collect all the necessary information, having previously put forward a condition for yourself: I will take the next important step in this direction after so much time. For example, you decide to study English language in the morning, we gave ourselves four hours to search for all the necessary information, and at six o'clock in the evening we decided to call several English schools and find the best one for ourselves in terms of class time, distance, etc.

Analyze past decisions

It is important to understand two things:

Why have you made good decisions in the past?
Why have you made bad decisions in the past?

What happened then? What principles did you follow? Perhaps when you make decisions quickly and intuitively, they turn out to be the best in your life. Then do the same in the future.

Create a spreadsheet

It's very simple, visual and effective: all your choices on one screen with their ratings, pluses and minuses. This allows you to dive into the details or look at big picture- depending on the purpose.

Tony Robbins method

Potential flaws in decision making can be avoided when you have a system in place to help break down options and anticipate possible weaknesses. It's called OOC/EMR. This is the decision method from Tony Robbins. He applies four rules to the very process of its development.

Rule one: all important or difficult decisions should be made on paper.

Don't do it in your head. This is how you end up getting hung up on the same things without reaching any resolution. The revolving of thoughts creates pressure and leads to stress.

Remember yourself when last time It took a long time to make an important decision. Or rather, they did not want to accept it. Months and even years passed, but the matter did not move forward. If you took a pen and paper, the decision could be made in one hour.

Rule Two: Be absolutely clear about what you need, why you want it, and how you'll know you've achieved it.

You must clearly understand what you want, what is the goal. Even if it is absolutely clear what you want, you may forget the reasons why you want it. WHY is what will make you follow your decision. This is where it appears.

Get as specific as possible about what you want, why you need it, and how you'll know when you get what you need.

Rule Three: Decisions are based on probability.

Don't expect complete and absolute certainty. In most cases, you will never get it. So, you have to give it to yourself.

No one can clearly say what the consequences of the decision will be. Yes, you need to collect information and analyze it, but no one can give a 100% guarantee.

Rule Four: Decision making is refinement.

In most cases, there may be multiple results. Find out what solution will bring the most benefit in all areas of your life. Sometimes benefits appear where you could not even think.

So we got to the decision-making process. Robbins calls it the fancy acronym OOS/EMR. It consists of the following steps:

Results.
Choice options.
Effects.
Evaluation of options.
Damage reduction.
Decision.

Let's consider each step separately.

results

Tony Robbins starts by defining the results he wants to achieve. He asks the following questions:

What will be the results?
What exactly do I want to achieve?

This helps to create clarity about the results as well as to prioritize them. After all, there can be a lot of them, and they can carry completely different benefits.

Robbins: "Think first, then answer."

Choices

He writes down all options, even those that may seem strange. Why? Tony says that there is a principle here: “One option is not a choice. The two options are a dilemma. Three options - a choice.

It doesn't matter if you like any of these options, just write them down.

Effects

Robbins tries to figure out the consequences of each of the options he came up with, asking each of them the following questions:

What are the advantages and disadvantages of each option?
What will I get from each option?
What will it cost me?

Options evaluation

For each option or choice, Tony Robbins asks the following questions:

What results are affected? (this is what we discussed in the first paragraph)
How critical are the disadvantages and how important are the advantages on a scale of 1 to 10?
What is the probability, from 0 to 100%, that a negative or positive consequence will occur?
What emotional benefit or consequence would result if I chose this option?

Robbins uses this step to eliminate certain options from the list.

Damage reduction

He then considers the consequences of the shortcomings of each of the remaining options. For everyone, Tony Robbins brainstorms alternative ways eliminate or reduce damage.

You can lean towards one option, but still know that there are downsides to it. That's what this stage is for: think about how to reduce their impact.

Decision

Robbins chooses the option that provides the most confidence in achieving the desired outcomes and needs based on the most likely outcomes.

He suggests the following steps in this phase:

Choose the best option.
Complete it to make sure it works.
Decide for yourself that regardless of whether the option works 100% or not, it will lead to victory (this way you can stop tormented by thoughts that choosing one option, we lose another).
Develop a plan for implementation.
Take action.

Books

You are unlikely to learn how to make decisions by learning a couple of methods. This is a process that takes years. The following books will help speed it up.

"Problem Solving by Secret Service Methods" by Morgan Jones.
"Refraction. The Science of Seeing Differently" Bo Lotto.
"Guide to Lies. Critical Thinking in the Post-Truth Age by Daniel Levitin.
“How not to make mistakes. The Power of Mathematical Thinking Jordan Ellenberg.
Why are we wrong. Thinking Traps in Action by Joseph Hallinan.
“Traps of thinking. How to Make Decisions You Won't Regret by Chip Heath and Dan Heath.
"Territory of delusions. What mistakes are made smart people» Rolf Dobelli.
“Proactive thinking. how simple questions can dramatically change your work and life.” John Miller.
"Mental traps at work" Mark Goulston.

This article sheds light on only part of the complex process like decision making. You can learn more about it in our free course "".

We make decisions all the time. Sometimes more than a hundred of them can accumulate in a day, and all of them will have certain consequences. This means only one thing: the quality of decisions determines the quality of our lives. When you achieve mastery in this matter, you will achieve success in many areas. We wish you good luck!

We want to tell you about an amazing and very simple technique 7 questions that will allow you to assess the situation with different points vision, get rid of doubts and bring the ability to make the right choice to a new level.

WARNING: You may not always like the answers, but in the end they will help you make the right decision.

1. What would I choose (a) if not for fear?

Unfortunately, too many decisions in our lives are made for us by our own fears and stereotypes. Of course, successful businessmen take a balanced approach to all the risks they take in their choice, but they also consciously approach their fears in doing so. If you feel obstacles - write out (in literally that word!) all your fears and doubts and work through them carefully with someone who will help you be objective. Sometimes the choice that causes us the most fear is the best one.

2. What would I choose (a) if not money?

What do you think: many brilliant ideas have not been implemented due to lack of money? Or is there no money due to the fact that these ideas were not implemented? Will you refuse to develop and move forward if it seems to you that you do not have enough funds for this? No matter how fantastic it may sound, but if you made the right choice, there will always be money. Remember crowdfunding (from the English. rowd funding, сrowd- "crowd", funding- "financing"). You can also ask for help from relatives, friends, acquaintances, or just let your surroundings know that you are looking for an investor. And let the money, or rather the lack of it, do not stop you.

3. What is the worst and best thing that can happen?

As a continuation of the previous two questions - draw yourself on paper mental map all possible consequences all possible solutions. List the positive, negative, tangible, and minor results that your choice will entail. In most cases, the best way out will thus become apparent on its own.

4. What has my previous experience taught me?

Any life experience— be it positive or negative — it gives us valuable lessons. Defeats in our lives happen only when, when we have not learned any lesson for ourselves. The rise is just as valuable a lesson as the fall. Think back to your previous ups and downs and consider: Does previous experience tell you what to do in this situation?

5. Does it match my vision?

Ask yourself the question: do you really need it, or are you agreeing out of necessity, although you are turning in the wrong direction at all? After all, one of the main factors for success is consistency, so always keep in mind whether this decision is in line with your vision, and whether it knocks you off your course?

6. What do my soul and body tell me?

Remember your last choice that you regret - didn't your inner voice or body give you signals that you shouldn't do this? If you feel physically uncomfortable when making a decision, or your inner voice quietly dissuades you, listen to these signals. They may not match what you are leaning towards. this moment, but the subconscious mind is much more aware of how this choice will affect you in the future.

7. How will I look at myself in the mirror tomorrow?

Finally, about the future. How will you feel the day after you make a decision? If you feel proud, energized and inspired, you are on the right track. If you notice shame or regret behind you, don't ignore those feelings. If you are already experiencing them, prepare for the worst.

For the full picture, consider what you will experience as a result of your choice in a week/month/year. You can also take 5 or 10 years for big decisions that have a significant impact on your entire life.

Conclusions: How to make the right choice?

Save this image to your desktop. Post it on your Facebook / Twitter / Instagram / LinkedIn / Vkontakte. Print it out and hang it above your desktop. And every time you are in doubt when making a choice, answer each of these 7 questions for yourself. Believe me - it works.

The life of each of us is an endless stream of decisions. You constantly have to choose: what to buy, how to spend the evening, which profession to choose, which deal to accept and which to reject, etc.

Fortunately, in most cases, making the right decision is fairly easy. Our subconscious does not have to spend a lot of time choosing one of the options, since it is definitely better. But there are situations when it is not clear which of the chosen options will bring more benefit and less harm.

Remember the legendary movie "The Matrix" when Morpheus offered Neo to choose one of the pills. From the outside it may seem that choosing freedom and life in reality was easier and more correct than forgetting everything and continuing to exist in a fairy tale. In fact, most people choose the other side in their lives.

But we digress a little from the topic. So, there are situations when it is not easy to make the right decision. Each of the possible options has a lot of pluses and even more minuses that we would not like to receive. In addition, each of the options will have a lot of consequences that we could not even imagine.

2 approaches to decision making

There are two ways that can help us make a choice. We have used each of them in our lives, simply, someone chooses one more often, someone uses the second more often.

1. When to enable logic?

Careful consideration of possible options and their consequences is characteristic of making logical decisions. Using this approach, we can weigh the pros and cons, analyze the possible benefits and losses of each of the possible options.

The logical approach is best used in situations where there are many inputs and most of the consequences are easily predictable. As a rule, this approach is better applied in business and in any other business areas life, in cases where the possible risks are very high.

2. When to use intuition?

Often we find ourselves in a situation where it is almost impossible to imagine further development events. There is no past experience corresponding to such situations, and there is no way to extract and analyze information from other sources. And you need to make a decision quickly, because "delay is like death."

In this case, there is nothing left but to listen to your intuition and not make a quick and unambiguous choice. Still, we will not be able to build any accurate forecasts.

The need to make such decisions almost always arises in personal life and in everything related to human feelings and emotions.

Regardless of which approach you tend to take more often, I recommend following these five principles to help you make the right decision:

Principle 1. Never rely on "maybe". Always make your own decision.

Don't wait for things to work out on their own or for someone else to do it for you. Indecisiveness is also a decision, but in this case you are no longer in control of the situation, therefore you are not in control of your life. Often people put off making a decision until there are no alternatives worthy of attention, and this is no longer a decision.

Consciously making a decision, however unpleasant, will prepare you in advance to accept its consequences and, most likely, it will be easier for you to cope with its negative consequences. Or maybe you can even find a way to get rid of some of the problems associated with it.

Principle 2. Make a decision quickly.

Postponing the decision for later, we tend to raise our bet in this game. As a rule, intuition tells us the best ways, but intuition only works for a short time, then all your past experience, fears, doubts and other nonsense that the brain is loaded with comes into play. All this only clutters up our consciousness and encourages us to make mistakes.

The sooner you can make your choice, the more time you have to prepare for its negative consequences. There will be time to “lay straw”, as a result, you will be able to get more out of the path you have chosen.

Principle 3. Once you've made your decision, take action immediately and don't stop.

Nothing delays the achievement of goals like procrastination. Once you postpone the implementation of your decisions, it will not be difficult for you to postpone them in the future, and this is fraught with the fact that you will never achieve the goals for which the decision was made. Often, what we thought about and decided to do is forgotten after a few days. The long box has not been canceled yet - it is in it that all our greatest achievements are stored.

Principle 4. Do not change your decision half way to the result.

Achieving any result takes time and effort. It makes no sense to expect that the result will come easily and quickly. And if you constantly change your decisions, then it will all be like Brownian motion(chaotic movement of the molecules of a substance, in which the substance itself does not move anywhere) and no result will definitely come.

Drive it into your head - you can get the result only by reaching the end.

If you have made a decision to become rich, then act to the end. If you decide in a week that it is difficult and it is better to become healthy. Stop saving money and start eating right. After another week, you will stop eating vegetables, because. you want a barbecue, and decide to be beautiful by playing sports. Then you can continue on your own.

Principle 5. The most important. Never regret your decision.

Often people believe that they made the wrong decision. It was necessary to act differently. The trick is that you can never know if you did the right thing, because. check is impossible. Always consider your choice as the only correct one.

For example, you bought a car, and a week later its engine broke down. The first thought - it was necessary to buy another, but, on the other, at the most inopportune moment, the brakes could fail. What would be better?

In fact, it is not difficult to make the right decision, it is much more difficult to take responsibility for its consequences! Follow these rules, they will help you and get outstanding results.

Good luck, Dmitry Zhilin