How Do You Make Decisions?

It’s obvious we’re all different. Through upbringings in different countries, even cities; our incomes, shoe sizes, hair colour, dress sense; all sorts of different reasons attribute to our differences. However, there’s something every single human being on this planet has to do in life. Some do it more than others, sometimes we have to do it for others and some will encounter much harder ones than I can even begin to understand.

We have to make decisions.

As a parent, one of my main teachings to my children is that life is all about choices, so right from the start I have been trying to allow them to gain experience and understanding on how the choices we make will impact our lives for the good or bad. In fact this has been our main focus the past month as one of our children is struggling with this quite a bit. Sometimes what feels like a good decision turns out to be a terrible choice, for whatever reason and sometimes that extremely hard choice turns out to be the best darn decision we make for years to come.

Either way, it’s something we have to do.

If we were to sit down and calculate just how many decisions one has to make in a day I bet we would end up in the thousands, probably tens-hundreds of thousands; from what time we wake up, to which position we fall asleep in, in bed.

The hard thing is though, making a decision that will impact on our ever convenient day-to-day routines.

You know what I mean. The ones that make us sweat and make us extremely uncomfortable, sometimes causing extreme stress, making our entire demeanor change overnight.

There comes a point in life, usually somewhere in our teens or early twenties where we step up and make that first adult decision. For some that may be whether to go to University, move across country, go on an OE, get married, take that job offer etc. The great thing about stepping up is that the more you do it, the easier it becomes. It’s absolutely terrifying at first but there’s a sickening rush you get from knowing that whether right or wrong, you made the choice and everything that comes from it is because you made a decision.

I love the quote taken from 1 Corinthians 13:11

When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

Making good decisions really is the trait of any inspiring adult.

My adult decision making kicked in quite early, I had a very short childhood. Making the right choices came easy for most of my life but there was a short while where this wasn’t the case. Maybe it is because my time came so early, my mind was still very young in it’s way of thinking.

Nowadays though, I’m the kind of person that thrives on a tough decision. I love the challenge it brings and get very excited that something new could be coming my way.

What keeps my life interesting is that my husband and I are totally different when it comes to making decisions. Well, at first we were…

It’s no secret that I’m the creative type I’ve always been very in touch with feelings (even if I don’t cry!) and answers for difficult choices have often been dreamed about. If something was right, my body would get so completely overwhelmed it would shake almost uncontrollably. It sounds a bit weird but it’s never steered me wrong.

My husband on the other hand is all logic. If numbers and time lines, paperwork, facts and studies all make sense, then he’ll consider that something could be a good decision.

Over the years we’ve blended well together, I’ve mellowed him out and taught him about gut instinct and he’s made me much more analytical. Maybe too much because some days it feels as though I’m doing all the logical thinking and filling him in with all the details hehe. He’s definitely been a good influence.

So how do we make our decisions? I say we because remember, I’m one in a partnership of two. Every big decision I make impacts five other people.

• We bring up whatever it is we’re contemplating.
• We thrash the topic.
• We both share our views, whether we agree with each other or not, everything is openly talked about, no feelings are hurt.
• We come to a conclusion on what it is we want based on what is best for the particular circumstance.
• We pause and wait for the instinctual feeling that this decision is right.
• We create a new goal.
• We break up the goal into simple little steps.
• We get to work on the steps.
• We then review every week/fortnight/month/year. Whatever is necessary.
• We alter steps if need be.
• We continue as before until goal is reached.

Now, although this sounds as though it’s only used on lifestyle/financial decisions, we do similar things when it comes to parenting decisions. Although the parenting sessions are much more relaxed because we’re usually on the exact same page.

This method has helped us many times. It’s how we made $30,000 in one weekend. It’s how we close to doubled our income in one year without me leaving home. It’s how we got noticed by one of the major banks in NZ and got our budgeting scheme taken nationwide.

What was one of your biggest decisions in life so far? How did it work out?

How do you make your decisions? Are you practical, emotional or a great combination of the both?

Do you have a big decision weighing on your mind right now?

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Tagged as: children, choice, D.I.Y. Diehard, decide, decisions making, emotional, life is about choices, Lifeisms, make a decision, practical, tach