Tips to Help You Make a Big Decision

Many big decisions that life throws at you can be potentially life-changing.

Making these big decisions isn’t always easy. They can often involve many factors, which kind of complicates the whole process. It’s also okay to be concerned about making those big decisions, especially if the stakes are high.

Is there a way to make the decision-making process any easier? These tips are tried and tested in helping people make big decisions in life.

7 Tips to Help You Make Big Decisions

1. Spend Some Time Alone

Spending some time alone away from various distractions, such as phone calls, emails, and television noise, can help you clear your head.

Similarly, you should avoid making decisions when you are hungry, tired, unwell, or under a lot of stress. If your decision-making is influenced by such factors, you may not be making the right decision.

Instead, spend some time with yourself in solitude. You do not need to spend hours, just enough to devote all your attention to the decision you need to make.

2. Write it Down

Do you try to make all big decisions in your head? If you do, then you may also be overthinking a lot. To eliminate that, try writing it all down. When you write things down, you create a physical list that helps you see the obstacles and opportunities clearly in front of you.

There is a saying, “Where focus goes, energy flows.” When making big decisions, you want to focus your energy on the task at hand and not let your mind wander aimlessly.

Write down all the facts about your selected goal on paper so that you can look at it objectively. Also, pay attention to the words you choose when you are writing down the decision. If you are using positive language, then you are probably excited about this decision. If your languages leans negative, you may be fearful. By acknowledging the emotion, you can take the emotion out of the equation and make the decision calmly.

3. Weigh the Pros and Cons

When you write down your decisions, also write down the likely outcomes. What outcome would you be okay with? What are the assumptions you are making about that outcome? Writing these things down will help you weigh the pros and cons of your decision.

Let’s explain with an example.

Whether to continue with your corporate career or start your entrepreneurial venture is a big life decision. The pros of continuing in your job are a steady paycheck, job security, and maybe great colleagues. The downside could be a limited number of opportunities.

The upsides of becoming an entrepreneur could be pursuing your interests, helping others, and more opportunities to grow. The downside could be financial instability and longer working hours.

4. Look at Ways to Improve Your Odds

After you have written down your options, you need to look for ways to improve your odds.

Sticking with the example above, if you decide to stay in your job, what can you do so that your decision turns out well? Similarly, if you decide to start your venture, you would need to think of how to ensure a steady income. Maybe you could leverage your network or get training in a new field to ensure a steady income source.