It's Your Choice: Making a Decision with Confidence

We’ve all been there – paralyzed with indecision and flooded with anxieties in moments of extreme weigh-in. Whether it’s a big career change or deciding what to do on a night out with friends, the range of possible outcomes can be absolutely overwhelming, leaving us frozen in the middle with no solutions in sight.

At its root, the entire issue is down to your feelings of confidence in yourself and trust in the decisions you make. It’s easy to feel in the moment like whatever you do will leave you worse off; that in making a decision you commit yourself to it and immediately turn down all other possibilities. But this isn’t necessarily true. The reality is that you can take steps to ensure that your decisions are well-thought out and isn’t any single choice truly entombing you in a prison of your own making.

The most effective method for decision-making is to look for why something might not be a good idea, instead of the reverse. When we try and think of the reasons why we should do something, we tend to get caught up in a construct of our own making, clouded by positive emotions surrounding the potential outcome. By asking why something may not be the right path, it hones our focus to the actual issues that pose problems in the long-term. This is also useful for managing our feelings regarding the situation; weighing up the positives and negatives is likely to cause more stress than simply considering the risks and seeing how we can minimise them.

Another useful way to manage anxiety around decisions is talking to someone else. When we boomerang ideas off of someone else, they can often provide insight, alternative solutions, and help us focus on what matters the most, something that we may not be able to do when looking at things from our own perspective. It doesn’t have to even be someone who has direct knowledge of the decision you’re making – in fact, talking to someone who is removed from your problem can allow for a better, less emotionally invested examination of the facts.

Finally, you need to remember that no one makes decisions with perfect knowledge. We all make decisions despite incomplete information, whether it’s with regards to career, relationships, or anything else. it’s not about being right all the time, it’s about committing to something, learning from the consequences, and using that newfound knowledge to inform future decisions. Asking yourself what you could do differently in the future can help open up new avenues, shift perspectives, and leave you with a greater sense of control.

Taking the plunge into the uncertainty of making decisions is never easy, but this process can become much simpler if you trust yourself, strive for balance and reflection, and are happy to learn from mistakes. It may seem like a circuitous road ahead, but every decision will take you one step closer to the one that really works for you.