Mastering the skill of making good quality decisions is something that, most of us, have never been educated to do. At school, we were taught the Pythagoros theorem, iambic pentameter, and such like, when skills such as how to make good quality decisions to help you live your best life, were rarely touched upon. ( I have a real issue with the structure of education in schools, however, that is a rant I will reserve for another day!).
Lack of clarity and direction are the main culprits behind poor decision-making. The key to mastering the powerful skill of making good quality decisions in your life is not complicated. It involves a four-step process: 1. decide the outcome that you want 2. work out the steps you need to take to reach your desired outcome 3. break those steps down even further to enable them to be more easily turned into actions
4. take action
Example:
You're worried about your finances and have been burying your head in the sand. You don't know exactly how much is in your bank accounts, exactly how much debt you have accumulated and you don't have a handle on your incomings and outgoings. You're worried and very stressed but realise that you have to stop ignoring the problem and begin the job of regaining control. Let's apply the four-step process to this example: 1. Outcome You decide the outcome you want is to establish a precise and complete picture of your finances so that you have a clear basis from where to start taking back control of your financial life 2. Steps
You work out the steps you need to take to reach your desired outcome. They are: a. opening your online banking and printing the last three months of your bank statements b. opening your letters from various entities chasing you for payments c. downloading all additional statements e.g. investments, shares, pensions, etc 3. Start the Forensics You take all of the assembled information and enter it on a centralised Excel spreadsheet broken into a variety of categories 4. Action You take the following actions: a. create an income and expenditure monthly budget b. pay off some of your immediately affordable outstanding debts and negotiate the others into manageable monthly payments and include these repayments in your monthly expenditure budget c. find a 'side hustle' to generate some additional income to build a financial rainy day fund Using the four-step process outlined above, you have reclaimed control over your finances and built yourself a strong foundation to go forward. One more thing...
When making a decision, it is also worth asking yourself, (to test the robustness of the decision that you are considering taking), what the outcomes and impacts of this decision will be in the:
a. short-term b. medium-term and c. long-term