Becoming a better decision-maker can change your life. Truly, your entire life can improve when you become more confident as a decision-maker. But how do we get there? How do we get past the decision paralysis, fatigue, and outright fear when it comes to making decisions? 

One of the things that makes me really sad is when I see people who are so indecisive that opportunities pass them by because they waited too long. They’re stuck in indecision.

Making no decision is a decision.

Too often, no decision becomes a closed door and a lost opportunity.

We’ve all experienced it!

I get it, decision fatigue is a very real thing. What we need is smart and simple strategies that we can use in making decisions from the littlest ones up to the biggest decisions of our lives.

In this episode of Balancing Busy Podcast, I’m sharing my four rules to live by when it comes to decision-making. 

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This episode will help:

👉 Anyone and everyone simplify decision making
👉 The decision fatigued mom learn to make confident decisions
👉Take the fear out of making decisions

Look for the simple

Not all decisions are created equal. The trick is to make simple decisions quickly and big decisions slowly, because my friend, decision fatigue is very, very real.

That means we want to simplify where we can. We have to make so many decisions every day but think about the areas of your life where you can make the decision once and then just run with it. Some really simple examples of this are things like Taco Tuesday, Friday Pizza Night, or Pot Roast Sunday.

When you know that every Friday is pizza night, then you get to avoid thinking that dreadful thought of “what’s for dinner?” The decision has been made, and you just freed up energy, time, and brain power.

Another example is to think about the tech billionaires who wear the exact same jeans and t-shirt every single day. They’ve got 500 white t-shirts and the exact same Levi Jean that they grab out every single day. They do this because they don’t want to waste energy on what to wear. That’s not a value for them, so they keep it really simple.

When we can simplify or even eliminate some decisions all together we can better spend that energy and time in places that truly need or matter to us.

So look at your life and look for those areas where you can simplify your decisions. One of mine is knowing that every time I go get my nails done, we will be having tacos for dinner because my favorite taco place is right next to where I get my nails done.

Easy decision. Nails done = tacos for dinner. Or when it comes to business, it’s knowing that Monday is project day, that Thursdays are client days. These are simple systems that slow down decision fatigue.

Make no assumptions

When making decisions, we don’t want to make assumptions. We need to make sure we ask questions.

I love this example from NASA, (which may or may not be true- but for the sake of this we’re going with it) during the height of the space race in the 1960s, legend has it that NASA scientists realized that pens could not function in space.

They get to work trying to come up with new technology, trying to get a pen created that would be able to write without gravity. In the end, the story goes that someone finally realizes that all that was needed the entire time was a pencil.

Sometimes we make assumptions. We miss the right questions, we miss the simple answer. So we just need to check in with ourselves.

What information do I have?

What information could I be missing?

What blind spots might I have?

Am I being overconfident or underconfident?

Follow Your Gut

Okay, this might seem like the opposite of what I just said. But I believe that following our intuitions is a good strategy! Of course, it’s also one that can’t be quantified. But then again…

Scientific research did find that going with your gut is ideal for decision-making. According to experts, the more you trust your intuition in combination with facts, the better your future decision-making can become.

When I say trust your gut, I mean that I’m trusting my intuition, promptings that I believe I’m receiving, or in other words, heavenly help.

Heavenly guidance, when making big decisions is everything for me. That is how I make the big decisions, and it’s why the pros and cons list doesn’t work because there are times when Taylor and I have made decisions in our lives that according to any pros and cons list, do not make sense.

It does not measure up, and yet it was the best thing we could have done for our family, and it was following that intuition, or those promptings and Heavenly help.

Decide with an Eternal Perspective in Mind

Decide with an eternal perspective in mind. This comes down to knowing your core values and goals.

This is the tip that if you only took one thing away from this episode, this is the thing that I believe can make the biggest impact! It’s to think big picture when making decisions.

When I make the decision from an eternal perspective, I stop thinking about what I want right now, and I start thinking about what Future Me wants.

Future Me wants me to be vibrant and hopes that at least most of the time, I choose the fruit over the Oreos.

Future Me has really big plans with my grandkids, which I totally don’t have yet, but I will someday and hopes that I close those rings on my Apple watch today, so that I can stay strong and active. I have this vision of them having to keep up with me, not me trying to keep up with them, and so future me hopes that I do the work to stay strong so that I can.

When I make choices with my core values as my guide, with my eternal perspective in mind, I’m going to make better decisions from the littlest ones all the way up to the biggest ones.

Stay in Gratitude

The bottom line, we make better decisions when we feel good. When we are stressed, overtired, or overspent, our decision-making skills go down. Staying in a space of gratitude can combat that. When we take care of ourselves better, we’re going to make better decisions. It’s really that simple.

So whenever possible, don’t make big decisions stressed. It’s not always possible, but if it is, consider the saying ‘that ‘the journey of a thousand miles begins with one step’.

If we’re going to become incredible decision makers, we start with the next decision presented in front of us and we just go from there.

So to recap all of this, the rules for better decision-making are:

Rule 1: Look for simple

Rule 2: Don’t assume

Rule 3: Follow your gut or your intuition, or that prompting!

Rule 4: Decide with an eternal perspective in mind. This is based off of your core values, in other words: what future you really wants for your life.

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OTHER EPISODES YOU’LL LOVE:

Episode 32: Busy and Productive Are Not The Same Thing

Episode 11: Why You Need Boundaries in Your Business