How To Make Difficult Decisions — The Easy Way — Life Long Lessons

Have you ever wondered how politicians make decisions for an entire country or how doctors decide which is the best treatment for a patient? What makes them equipped to make life or death decisions?

Keep reading if you want to know the secret formula and become a master decision-maker.

If you’re between a rock and a hard place, deciding which college to pick, thinking whether or not to text your crush or just curious about how to make a good decision- you’ve come to the right place.

First of all, take a deep breath and sit tight, because what’s coming will make you wish you had been taught about this technique a few years ago in high school. Like my friend Ana said, “I wish I knew about this simple technique months ago!”

Say What?

Let’s dive right into it!

The truth is, some decisions are harder than others. Remember that most decisions are not as easy as values where 2 > 1 where obviously choosing the number 2 would bring greater benefits than if you were to choose the number 1. In real life, some decisions make it hard to notice which option has more importance.

And for this reason, you must practice the secret way to make decisions. The correct answer and solution to all of your problems has thirteen letters and starts with the letter i. Drumroll please… 3,2,1 and the result is called introspection.

Now you might be asking yourself, what in the world is introspection?

Simply put, you have to completely and freely detach yourself from both outcomes. Sometimes it helps to see the situation from a 3rd person’s perspective, and you may even gain some valuable insight you hadn’t thought about before.

Introspection doesn’t mean ‘go running to your best friend and tell them to make the choice for you’. It is definitely not about asking your family members to tell you what you should do.

It’s the complete opposite.

Really look within yourself, and decide with your heart.

If that means going out for a walk or sitting in your room for a few minutes of complete silence, do it. It will make sure you don’t make biased decisions and you will feel lighter once you have made the decision.

In the Oscar-winning movie Parasite, there was a quote that said something along the lines of “Listen to your pulse, if it accelerates then you know how you feel”.

With such a simple message, remember that your physiology never lies so if your heartbeat accelerates, then that means that you are alive and geared towards that desirable outcome.

Bonus: Special Treat

An extra bonus technique for making decisions: visualization. Visualize, visualize, visualize. It has been scientifically backed up by neuroscience that visualization can make you more likely to achieve your goals.

So just close your eyes, imagine yourself completely living in each of the scenarios, and feel which one would help you achieve your long term goals. The difference between good and bad decisions is how you decide to handle them as they come.

Either way, visualization will be a great tool to incorporate when you feel you need to make a valuable decision. Most importantly, imagine the experience as vividly as possible. Add colors and shapes.

One final thought to leave you thinking — If they give you 500 dollars to take an option but it still does not make that option better, then the two choices were not as equal as you thought.

Learn more. Limit less.

Originally published at http://longlifelessons.com on February 8, 2021.