Big Decisions

 Three things that are fairly straightforward and yet people miss them:

1. The importance of making good decisions

2. Keeping things simple

3. Common Sense

I will touch upon decision making here. 

We all make decisions daily. And we do well in them. But most of these decisions do not have a big impact on our lives (please read my post 10/10/10 Rule). In our entire lifetime, we have to take just a few big decisions such as the one's below:

1. Our education - This one is perhaps the hardest because as kids or young adults most people are not sure about what they would like to do professionally. And therefore, our decision is influenced by the world around us. 

Question for you - Were you very clear about what to study in college?

2. Choosing our work - For most of us, this is connected to the education part. But I think listening to our inner voice and doing the work that we are drawn towards is a better way to decide. It may take longer but we'd be happier doing the work that interests us. 

Question for you - How did you choose your work?

2. Marriage & Parenting - Deciding whom to marry has disproportionate affect on our mental state and in our life.

3. The company we keep - This is a sub-conscious decision and is made regularly. Therefore it may be excluded from the big decisions list. I mention it here because of it's extreme importance. Further, the time we spend with 'ourselves' is also critical for our happiness and success. 

4. Big Financial decisions - House, Investments, Relocation etc.

The balance of decisions are not as important. Therefore, it makes sense to ensure that we choose wisely when bid decisions are to be taken. Of course, deep thinking & careful analysis is important but so is using our intuition. One hack that I use is as follows. I think of each option and the one that feels comfortable in my chest (physically) is the best one. This technique can be applied for regular decision making too. 

Several people regularly make sub-optimal decisions and I think the main reason for that is poor emotional management. Fear & worry are the two emotions we manage worst. Additionally, most people care too much about social/professional pressures while making their decisions. 

I have a question for you - Do you think the Big Decisions in your life were made for you?