How to make important life decisions
We all have to make them at some point or another. Do you want to go to college or do vocational training instead? What profession should you choose? Should you get married? Have kids? Buy a house? Change that job? Buy a new car? Or just a different car?
When talking about important life decisions, it’s not what’s for dinner or what to watch on Netflix. It’s those big decisions that often intimidate us.
For me those decisions can lead to paralysis, avoidance and a fair amount of discomfort. But none of that will make them go away, so today I share with you how I tackle making decisions that result in long-term commitments, financial obligations and various other ‘scary’ sounding ways of locking yourself into a certain direction.
When I have to make a big decision, I certainly do research and evaluate the data and information I find. But I always ALWAYS trust my gut. My instincts have never failed me and I can vividly recall the moments when I let my head override my intuition and it always ended up being a poor decision.
So how do you get in tune with your intuition? You already are - you just have to listen. A popular method of assessing different options is to ask yourself whether it’s a “hell yes” for you. Is it something you’re really excited about? Does the prospect of making this choice have you giddy with anticipation? Do you lose sleep because you’re planning every little detail of what your life will look like once you’ve made this decision? That’s what a HELL YES feels like. Everything else is a no.
Another way to think about it is to do or to visualize a coin toss. Heads means you say yes, tails means you say no. As soon as you toss the coin in the air, your gut will tell you how you want it to land. Are you wishing for heads or for tails? There is your answer…
If it’s a no - commit to the no and move on with your life. No need to spend more of your energy thinking about it. No regrets (they only come if it was meant to be a yes).
And when you’ve committed to moving to the other city, taking the other job, setting up a business, or starting a family? Then go for it 100%. Take the first steps and proceed in the right direction. A hell yes means you will feel excited going down the path you’ve chosen.
A hell yes doesn’t mean it will always be easy. Absolutely not. Some of it will be difficult, frustrating, complex and even risky. But knowing you’ve made the decision that is true to your heart and true to what you want in life means that you’ll overcome those obstacles and you’ll get to your goal.
In today’s video I share more about these ideas and tell you about some of the big HELL YES decisions in my own life.
