6 Tips to make wiser decisions in life.
Have you ever felt that your life would have been better if you had just been wiser at critical moments in your life? Do you feel you have missed out on lucrative opportunities just because you were impatient? Does losing important things in your life to haste still haunt you?
We’ve all been there. But it’s never too late to change. Let’s learn a simple but life-changing approach to life that will help you be patient, get a better understanding of situations, and make wiser decisions. Let’s turn our lives around!
You see, our evolutionary history has made our propensity to react emotionally to situations very strong. Our forefathers, in the early ages, had to be reactive to protect themselves from threats in the wild or to capitalize on opportunities for food. This was quite a skill to possess in their simple times. However today, in a world full of manipulation and leg-pulling, that skill has become more of a handicap.
The complex situations that contemporary life offers demand scrutiny and shrewd decisions to ensure beneficial results. Today, we risk being hoodwinked or manipulated if we allow ourselves to be navigated by emotions. We may miss out on profitable career options if we make decisions under societal pressure rather than with a pragmatic approach. We lack foresight for our future. We fail to exercise our minds and think about the big picture. We lack the wisdom to assess a situation from all possible angles before making a decision. The result? Failure. Regret. Loss.
But worry not! For this article will present you with tips that will transform the way you approach situations, people, and just life in general.
The following are the 6 tips to make wiser decisions in life.
1. Make patience your strongest virtue.
Being patient might easily be the strongest character trait you ever acquire in your life. When facing a difficult situation, it is natural to react emotionally or judge the situation based on a biased intuition. This is where most people make mistakes they regret later. Instead, train yourself to be stoic in such situations. Don’t react, don’t judge prematurely, don’t act. Stay completely calm and astutely observant. Analyze the situation with complete neutrality. This will give you the power to not only avoid being manipulated but also make prudent, effective decisions.
2. When compelled to react, don’t. Exit the situation.
For some people, it is difficult to remain patient, or they are facing a Machiavellian who is adamant in pushing a reaction out of them. In such cases, exit the situation. You can do this physically by leaving the room or mentally by zoning out completely to avoid reacting unscrupulously. If you are faced with an emotionally demanding situation, try to avert it completely for a couple of days. Distract yourself, let your emotions cool down, think about it when you are in a neutral state of mind, and then come back to it.
3. Understand the source of the problem.
Many of the bad decisions we make are the result of not understanding the problem properly. Never make a decision based on a superficial understanding of the problem. Dive deep into it. Understand all the underlying factors of the problem. Get a firm understanding of it. Only then are you ready to make an informed decision?
4. Widen your perspective.
One of the hallmarks of a wise decision is that it takes multiple viewpoints into consideration. We naturally make decisions based on our biased perspectives. We make decisions based on what we think is right or wrong. But OUR truth is often not THE truth. A wise person understands this feature of the mind and counters it by widening his perspective. When faced with a problem, try to view it from multiple angles. What do you think about the problem? What does your adversary think about it? What would a neutral person think of it? What would someone you admire think of it? After considering all these perspectives, have a neutral, intellectual, rational debate with yourself to understand what is right and what is wrong. This will make your decisions much more inclusive and effective.
5. Look into the future.
Never decide without thinking about its consequences. Have you ever noticed that regret only exists for things done in the past? You never regret things you are doing in the present. This is because hindsight has this implicit wisdom to it that can only be achieved with time. So, when you look into the future and view the decision you are taking, your mind views the decision with the wisdom of hindsight. This will tremendously elevate your decision-making skills.
6. Never decide on an emotional state.
The most basic rule for making wise decisions is that you NEVER decide an emotional state. And by this, I don’t mean that don’t make decisions when you are angry. No. I mean, whether you are too angry, too happy, too sad, or too anything, DO NOT make a decision. If you decide in a depressed state your decisions will be too pessimistic. If you make a decision when ecstatic, you will be unrealistically optimistic and short-sighted. If you decide in rage, your decisions will be impulsive and reckless. So, always calm down and attain a neutral state of mind before making a decision.
With these tips in mind, your mind will function in a way different from most people's. You will feel more control over the decisions in your life. You will gain clarity on the results of your decisions. Satisfaction would replace regret in your life as wisdom establishes itself in your psyche. Life would be much better. Hope this helps!
