3 steps to make faster and fearless decisions in life

Be fearless and confident while taking important decisions of life.

It’s been 6 months since I started working on an important 5-year goal #A. It was super clear to me. It was so important that without this I can’t achieve other bigger goal #B of my life. I was very excited to achieve ‘A’. I was moving at a good speed, working very hard, and focused on my core skills to acquire it.

I was meeting different people around, to create a network, which can keep pushing me and made me think from a different perspective. I was also attending related webinars and workshops to get a 360-degree perspective.

During this journey, I achieved a tiny bit of the actual result of ‘A’. In just the first 3 months I tasted the flavor of the final dish to be eaten. It kicked me further and compelled to reach towards ‘A’.

While I was working on ‘A’, I was also working in parallel to achieve long term super important goal ‘B’. I had created a system, which was enabling me to give justice to balance between both.

I was cherishing the moments of little wins every day. Many days were super excited. I was tracking the related activities of the day in daily journal sessions. There were days when I was in the natural flow to work only on one of the goals and didn’t work on another. I didn’t force myself.

What was the problem then?

During weekly self-review sessions of journaling, I started observing a pattern. I could see my inclination more towards ‘A’ and not taking any action for the other one. ‘A’ slowly started sucking all of my energy and time (it was required and demand based on the nature of the work) and an imbalance got created.

‘B’ was the lifeline to me. I was not able to work on it due to time clashes and constraints with ‘A’. I started feeling ‘A’ became a bottleneck to fulfill my life on a day to basis. Having a fulfilled life is one of the core values to me, which I didn’t want to compromise. Now I had to find the solution to resolve this imbalance.

I am sure every one of us go through similar situations in life, where we had to find the solution by taking wiser decisions to opt-in or drop something important. It’s a trade-off.

Here I am listing few commonly known decision making opportunities you might relate to -

1. Two or three job offers in hand, which one to choose?

2. Both girls seem to be a good fit for each other. Whom to marry?

3. Got rank in good degree colleges. Which is the best for me?

4. Got a promotion at work. Need to opt between promotion or a city change?

How did I find the solution to my problem?

One fine day during my morning routine of journal session, one thought made me went into a self conversation in a journal diary.

Self Conversation Script

— — — — —

Hey Just drop this 5-year goal, as it is coming on your way.

So what?

I am not able to focus on my other goals, which are more important to me, so dropping or re-define is a good decision.

No way, I worked so hard on it for the last 6 months, I came to a level when I am more confident in achieving this goal.

So what?

Fulfillment of this goal needs more time going forward and complexity is increasing day by day. How will you work on your other goals which are super important to you?

So what?

Yes, the outcome of this goal is a pre-requisite to me for my other goals to accomplish.

Well said, so just drop it.

Yes true, but I just can’t eliminate it. All my past efforts will go in vain.

So what?

— — — — —

The conversation went on and I gained up some degree of clarity.

We all encounter several such situations in our life where we had to take tough decisions and choose the best option. But often we are biased towards one option. We can’t see the reality as it is. Tend to make an emotional decision based on the information fed and the experience gathered in the past.

For good decisions to make, we need to go to the root and get the clarity. I have decided with the following three-step approach (Below may not work in every scenario of life, you need to do adjustments based on the context and need)

3 Step Decision Loop to get clarity

A lack of clarity could put the brakes on any journey to success ― Steve Maraboli

1. Refer Dreams & Purpose — Check the origin of the goals via dreams and purpose, which gave me a holistic view of the goals. I had a check on my dreams and associated impact on current goals. After thinking and reviewing I could gather some more insights. Slight update on the goals has helped me.

Goals are like moving posts, you need to continuously assess the current situation and adapt accordingly.

You need to have a big picture and a clear purpose for the goals.

Whenever you are off the path from your goals, the purpose will work as a compass, provide you an appropriate direction to course correct.

2. Validate with Core Values — Pick a refined or impacted goal and validate if you were true with your core values while executing goals. Do you need to alter an approach of executing it? If you don’t have values known to you, identify them first.

After following above two approaches, if you are still not compelled and convinced, try the below approach -

3. Pros & Cons Test — Do a comparison between the initial and newly defined goal. List down the pros and cons of both. This will open up a new perspective to you. You could also get an AHA moment and a compelling reason to choose the best option.

When I used this 3 step approach, it took me 1 full day to find the best solution and choose an appropriate goal for myself. Moreover, the entire process was joyful to me.

Why taking a faster decision is important?

You can’t make decisions based on fear and the possibility of what might happen ― Michelle Obama

During important decisions of my life, I used to be fearful (fear of loss) and mentally exhausted with a lot of days into vain. The state of mind was confused leading to no results.

Journaling prompts along with the above 3 step decision loop approach has helped me to make faster decisions with more clarity. The best part is, now I enjoy resolving such challenges of life. It’s fun for me.

Is it a challenge or fun to you?

Conclusion

1. Take faster decisions for your goals with clarity
2. 3 steps approach to decision — Refer dreams & purpose, Validate with core values, Pros & Cons test.
3. Take fearless and bold decisions in life.
4. Make decision making as fun.

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