3 steps for better decision making

Most of our clients often complain being trapped in the process of decision making. This includes regret accumulated by making bad decisions in the past and secondly the classic clash between facts and feelings.

Decision about education, career, relationships, family and business are most crucial and become the topmost concern for Individuals.

During first Intervention, we emphasis to make clients understand that every living being makes bad decision. Bad decisions does not equal permanent failure. Bad decisions made in past should not hold a person to make progress in any area of life. Every individual has enough opportunities and immense potential to groom their decision making process every single day.

We are happy to share - 3 Steps to effective decision making,

Step 1 : Decision Statement - It is very important to state in clear terms the decision. It should be simple and precise. 

Step 2 : Note down the fact and feelings associated with the decision. 

Step 3: Review the decision statement and Facts & Feelings associated with the decision. 

Lets have a look at one example.

One of my clients was thinking about divorce decision. She approached me for depression relief. Her major concern that surfaced after 1 session was ‘indecisiveness” & “uncertainty” which made her feel anxious, sad, depressed, stagnant in her day to day life. 

I asked her to go through this activity which helped her to make a decision. 

	Facts	Feelings
Past	I have had an amazing time with my husband before marriage.	Love, gratefulness, gratitude, happy
	He helped me with ideas to start a new business	Love, gratefulness, gratitude, happy
	He insulted me once in a party for not being on time	Annoyed, disappointed
	He took me on holidays after marriage.	Happy
Present	He drinks everyday and abuses me and my children	Frustrated, Sad
	I have sold my family home to help him with his business	Disappointed, lost,  Guilty
	My Children love even he loves his children sometimes	Hopeful
	I found him chatting with another women	Cheated , disappointed
Future	My children will need good father, he is not so good	Uncertain
	I have sold my home so I will have to stay with him in future	Disappointed, forced
	I haven’t worked in any job for a while so I need to go through some tough time if we separate	Disappointed but will accept challenge
	My friends and community will make fun of me	Cheated, Sad
	I will be independent, will take care of my children.	Hopeful, Proud

Decision:  I have Chosen ‘Divorce’ after one final conversation with Husband. He needs to undergo the same activity to understand the ‘Divorce’ decision.

It depends on the decision maker whether he/she wants to consider the past, present and future or either of the times while making a decision. Here is another example of Decision. 

Another Example, 

One of my clients was under extreme stress. He was uncertain about an Investment decision, he invested in a company for 3 consecutive years. He was indecisive whether he should continue or not. He underwent same activity

	Facts	Feelings
Past	Company Predicted ROI but they failed to return a  Single penny in the last three years.	Loss, Hopeless, Uncertain
	Company re approached us with a new scheme with new projects that will result in good returns.	Hopeful but Uncertain, anxious
Present	Company is downsizing, reduced  manpower by 40%	Uncertainty, risk
	Company has sold one of the offices to pay off debts	Risk in investment
	Line of business has slowed down in recent years, 4 companies in the same business are closed permanently.	Risk, Uncertainty, Fear
Future	Industry analysts predict that market will go down further in this year and will follow the same trend for next 2 years	Risk, Uncertainty, Fear

Decision:  There is a great risk in this type of investment considering past, present and future facts. Feelings and Facts both indicate not to invest further in the same company. I will evaluate other investing opportunities.