Developing The Habit Of Decision Making

Many life changes are lost through the incapability to act, due to indecision and more often due to overthinking. Very often it results in procrastination that plays the villain to lost opportunities.

It is very often that a ‘once in a lifetime opportunity’ slips through our fingers due to our not being able to decide on a time to act appropriately and later lament.

Not being able to decide on the course of any action planned, usually, is from lack of comprehension of facts related to the activity one contemplates. So facts play a vital role in decision making.

Very often in life, everyone is called to make decisions, be it for everyday living, starting businesses, improving on income, or even planning holidays and of course to help others better their lives.

Decisions to make everyday living plays the most important part of life. It is always to make our life pleasant, more pleasant or the most pleasant but never unpleasant. Hence, it is the decisions that we make, that determine how pleasant life is to us. This could involve decisions that we make to better the lives of others too. Societal living is the hallmark of civilization and any human decision shall contribute to self and others, be it very trivial.

Business ventures that have not reckoned the requirements of others have always failed.

Sources of water have always been the points where civilizations have thrived- the Indus valley, the golden crescent are examples. Man needed to be near water sources and no amount of overthinking or fear of attacks has to date deterred him from deciding to settle therein. These are primary decisions for survival. It is instinctive and applies to basic human requirements. In a broad sense, the survival instinct is what makes decision making crucial and paramount in human life.

Every day living involves deciding the environment of life, place of work with finances involved, type of work whether it is appropriate to acquired skills or requires acquiring new ones with finances involved, choice of a spouse which involves health, charm and mutual adaptability and with finances involved. Two people both with no known source of income getting into wedlock would spell doom. This shows that resources are paramount on any decision making.

To cut through indecisions and over thinking we need to consider the following even for matters personally related.

1. Does it help me to keep not deciding?

1. 1. What will be my loss?
   2. What will be my gain?
   3. Am I having too much-unrelated facts?

These are the three factors that give over thinking the advantage. Overthinking often contributes to lost opportunities unless backed by facts. So the facts better are appropriate.

1. Will my decision be detrimental to society at large?
2. Will my decision infringe on the safety of children and the aged?

Facts thus provide for decision making. It is the relative unavailability of facts that contribute to delayed decision making and overthinking.

Collecting facts related to planning actions involves a scientific approach where the information needs to be clear and never vague.

In almost all ventures, facts or information on the resources are usually considered- man, money and machines included but never the society. All effects from such decisions on society are usually considered in terms of legal and political requirements only.

Here a nice bit of overthinking would be the need of the hour to safeguard the environment for posterity rather than for short term advantages. Any gap in facts in depth could be calamitous.

A “factual approach to decision making” is thus the key to good decisions without fear of overthinking.