Making the right decision

As a Career Coach I often get to know individuals that are about to change jobs or careers, or are toying with the idea of changing. More often than not their first question to me is: How do I know that I am making the right decision?

The short answer is: you don’t! Once you leave a job or career you don’t know how it would have turned out if you did not leave and hence it is very hard to judge whether it was the right or a wrong decision. This is true for most decisions.

Many people make decisions based on fact, reason and intuition, and it is advisable to use this combination when you make major decisions in life. Let’s look at each of these and how they can help in your decision:

Facts

What is the hard evidence telling you? Now is the time to write down only the objective information you have and also to research some additional information. Facts are removed from personal opinions, biases and emotions. When putting down the facts, your feelings about those facts do not matter.

Bear in mind that we often only see some of the facts, so it is important to search for more facts to ensure that you are well informed.

Reason

When you look at reasons for your decisions, you need to look at reasons for and against it, i.e. the pros and cons. Again, putting these down on paper would help you to see the broader implications of your decision. You might like to draw a line in the middle of your page, putting the advantages on one side and the disadvantages on the other side. You could also ask for others’ input on potential reasons for and against the decision.

Intuition

What does your gut tell you to do? What does that little voice at the back of your mind say?

Although many people will tell you that your intuition should be left out of a big decision, I beg to differ. You should never underestimate your intuition.

Your intuition is the result of all your experiences and knowledge. Many studies have showed that a combination of gut feelings and analytical thinking results in better, faster and more accurate decisions. This, in turn, will result in increased confidence.

The impact of fear

A critical element of every decision is to take the fear out of the decision. Often your fear is not making the decision, but the fear of making the wrong decision. Remember, there are no wrong decisions! All decisions have consequences and you are merely choosing a particular path because you believe it has better consequences.

When you make your decisions based on fact, reason and intuition, you can be rest assured that you have done the best you can in making the “right” decision.

And after all, decisions can be overturned. If you make a decision and it turns out to not be what you want, you can change it.

Making decisions is probably the most important thing people ever do. Nothing happens until someone makes a decision. Ezra Taft Benson