How to Decide on a Decision

5 min Read | Career Development

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions.

Our entire lives are built on making choices. Every day we make choices, good and bad that map out what we end up doing.

While some people can’t stand making a hard choice, others rise to the challenge and take advantage of the opportunities of making smart choices.

Whether it’s walking the stage for graduation or mustering up the courage to ask your manager for a raise, each of us makes Decisions every day, some of them impact short-term and others impact a lifetime.

After Joel Hansen and myself reflected on how crucial it was for each of us to create a system in which we could vet the decisions we made, we wanted to share our top advice with each of you on the major questions we ask ourselves before following through with an idea.

1. Pros vs. Cons — Figure out in the immediate time what the pros are and how they compete against the cons.
2. Look at history — If that boss you’re kissing up to fires someone so they can give you a raise, the same might happen to you down the road. See what the trends look like and map your choice accordingly.
3. Think of the mind not the heart — We are often pulled towards things that we WANT instead of what we NEED. Make a choice that will set you up for success for a need.
4. Play chess with it — Winners often win because they are thinking ten steps ahead of what’s in play. Give it some thought on what your choice will do if / when you make it.
5. Ask a trusted source — Taking the time to reach out to a mentor, friend or established alumni can make all the difference as long as humility and open-mindedness are accompanied along with it.
6. Pause, reflect or escape — Sometimes our routines can choke out room for creativity to thrive. Carving out space in our agendas to pause, journal or escape from our day-to-day tasks (whether that be a morning hike or a weekend trip) can make all the difference.

Summary

The next time a decision needs to be made, keep these tips in mind:

1. Do the pros effectively outweigh the cons?
2. Map out past trends and look for patterns of possible repetition.
3. Do what is important and not what you passively want.
4. Think past the surface level and forecast how your choice will impact your next few days, weeks, months or years.
5. Have you bounced this idea off a trusted friend or mentor?
6. When was the last time you escaped your routine to pause and consider next steps?