Making Decisions

Decisions! Decisions! What to wear? What to study? What to read? What to eat? What heels to wear?

A serious love/hate relationship there.

I love that I’m free to make decisions. I hate that I actually have to make them.

Sound familiar?

This morning already: I’ve had to decide what to wear, how to do my hair (or not do my hair!), what coffee to drink, what to eat for breakfast, and then figure out what I’m going to write on this very blog, then master craft word by word to this page. No wonder by noon on most days my brain is fried from making millions of small, somewhat insignificant decisions. I feel like I suffer from decision-making-hangovers somedays. Are you feelin’ what I’m sayin’?

Why is decision-making so difficult most of the time?

I know this problem all too well. The problem for me is constantly seeking the approval of others and the fear of failing. Maybe you can relate, or maybe your decision-making problem stems from not knowing what you really want.

If you fall into the camp of constantly seeking the approval of others then you are in good company.

For us camped out at “approval camp”, we need approval for almost all big life decisions and we rarely trust our own intuition. If we ever do venture out and make a mistake and fail, or make a decision that no one “approved” of and fail, then we feel that failure is branded on us for the rest of our lives. Of course, it is not really like this.

Making decisions, including financial decisions, are a lot like this. We feel we need the approval of others. We feel we need to be doing what our neighbors are doing so that when we fail, we know they failed too. It’s kinda like failure hurts less when you know it’s happened to everyone involved. You are off the hook and don’t have to take emotional responsibility for your failed issues.

I think time has come for most of us at “approval camp” to check out of checking in with others on all our decisions.

You have your own guidance system that is perfectly tuned into your channel, your desires. It’s time to tune in and listen for that inner guidance that won’t lead you astray, and stop asking your aunt’s neighbor’s daughter’s therapist who keeps cow dung on her mantle because it “looked” like the Virgin Mary for advice.

Practice making decisions on your own. You don’t need the input of others for your life. It’s a skill and skills requires practice, such as playing the piano or learning German.

Here’s the deal with decision making: just make the freakin’ decision already!

Make the decision to succeed. Make the decision to financially succeed.

Trust me! You will feel instantly better you did!

The beautiful thing is this: you don’t need to know the how. I still don’t know the how for so many of my big decisions. None of us do, really.

We are like the golden brick road layers. We lay one brick at a time. Brick by brick, stone by stone, we take a step on the path in the general direction to what we seek, to our goal. Only after we have laid many bricks, and have taken many steps do we look back and see the long road we’ve traveled.

2 Simple Steps You Can Take After Decision Making

Simple Step #1 – Declare Your Decision!

The first step that you need to take after you have made a decision is to write down what you want. This is your way of declaring to the world this is what you want. This is crucial to your success. Having it written down, or typed into your phone or on your computer is so important. You need to be reminded of your decisions. They don’t stick automatically and will be something you need to be reminded of and work toward every day.

Simple Step #2 – Schedule The Crap Out Of It!

One of the skills that I’ve learned in regards to decision making is to schedule them in your calendar once you have made them. That’s the first part of this equation. Then the second part is honoring yourself, by honoring your calendar.

This is usually a big part of most self-development and business courses I’ve taken in the past. Scheduling. It seems so simple, but we rarely do it. Myself included. I’m going to begin (again, for the millionth time) to write down and schedule the most important commitments. This does include saving money. Write down the date on your calendar that you want to save money on and how much. Remember, what gets scheduled gets done!

BOTTOM LINE: Make your decisions, declare them and then schedule them in. This quote sums it up best!

“The more you love your decisions, the less you need others to love them!” – Marie Forleo