Career Magazine

How to Make an Empowering Decision [VIDEO]

By Olgadegtyareva @olga_degtyareva

(click on the above image to view the video)

There is a good chance that right now you are facing making a decision. I myself am going through the work of getting clear and making a decision right now, so I thought I’ll share with you a few thoughts.

We are going to talk about making big decisions as well as small decisions. Often we need to make small decisions, and on a day-to-day basis we tend to spend a lot of time and energy to try to figure out what is the best thing to do. But the thing is that it is really a tiny decision, and what we don’t realize is that most things don’t really matter, they don’t make a difference. No matter what you pick, it is going to make a very little difference if any.

What you can do is to pick one or the other, and save yourself time and energy and it will have a very little impact on the result.

I am telling you this, but I used to be someone who could not answer anything when asked: “Do you want an orange juice or an apple juice?” I would just hang in the air – I was so indecisive! This was about 10-12 years ago. I remember I was a PhD student and dating a guy, who is now my husband, and he would ask me something like this and I would not be able to give an answer. This was because I was so out of touch with my own desires and feelings.

And of course to get in touch with your own preferences, desires, and wishes would help you to make decisions easier. But really you can start with picking just one or the other and reminding yourself that it does not really matter which one.

I shared this with one of my clients a couple of weeks ago and he applied this approach to buying something on internet. He just picked one thing, and maybe it was not the cheapest, but then the price difference between various items was small anyway and he saved so much time and energy for himself, so it really worked.

Gradually you will get in touch with your own preferences more and more, and this is what I’ve been going through in recent years. Especially looking at my children I could see that they always know exactly what they want and have no problems deciding and saying what they want. I think this is because they are not disconnected with their preferences like many of us are!

This is everything I wanted to say about making small decisions that you are faced to do on a day-to-day basis. I gave you an example of buying something, but you can also apply this to something at your work and in your lab, and save yourself lots of time and energy.

Speaking about big decisions – some of them are life changing decisions or career changing decisions – a lot of us are obsessed with making the RIGHT decision. And of course the right decision is the best thing you can do. But the truth is that making a wrong decision is the second best thing you can do. And not making any decision is the worst thing you can do. Just think about this for a minute. And this is because if you don’t make a decision, you don’t move, you don’t evolve, you don’t change. Absence of change equals stagnation, recession: you don’t grow and you are not really living.

So to make a wrong decision is OK! And in many cases you can amend it or steer it in a slightly different direction. Or many new opportunities or wonderful things can come up or open up even if the decision was wrong for this particular aspect.

I’d like you to start thinking about it that making a wrong decision is the second best thing you can do and become more comfortable with that.

I cannot really teach you how to make the right decision or what is the right decision for you to make, but what I can share with you is how you can make this decision that is in front of you from a more empowering place. You can make a decision that is going to empower you, and you are not going to constantly regret it and ask yourself “why did I make this decision?”

When we are faced with making a decision, we often look at our current situation, at the people who surround us currently, at our current circumstances; we listen to the thoughts and feelings we have currently. What I want to suggest you do instead is you imagine the person you want to become as the result of this decision, imagine the circumstances you want to have around you when you make this decision. Imagine the feelings you want to feel after you make this decision, imagine the thought you want to be thinking after you make this decision, imagine the people you want to be surrounded by after you make this decision.

Start approaching making this decision not from the place where you are right now, but from the place where you want to be, or from the perspective of that person you want to become. And this is going to help you to make an empowering decision!

Your productivity assignment for this week:

  1. For the little decisions you face on a day-to-day basis, remind yourself that most things don’t really matter. Make a quick decision, picking one or the other, because it is not going to affect the result much, saving your time and energy.
  2. Remind yourself that only few crucial things really matter, and focus your time and energy on them. And when you face making decisions for the things that really matter – in your work and life – then remind yourself to make this decision not from the place where you are right now, but from the place where you want to be, and from the perspective of the person you want to become.

If you are ready to start working with me more closely and personally, today would be a good day to join me in the “Heal Yourself and Grow” coaching program. And by the way in this program we discuss a lot about decision-making. By joining me today you can still get this wonderful bonus I am offering: Effortless manifestation kit! Click here for details.

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