Many times we rush through the day, making decisions without a second thought. Often, there simply isn’t enough time to review the impacts of our decisions or we think “I’ll deal with it later.” While this approach can work fine for small decisions, if you make big decisions this way for very long, you may end up feeling frustrated and aimless, wondering why you aren’t making progress in reaching your goals or living the life you truly want.
One of the best ways to gain clarity when making a significant decision is to step back and ask three simple questions:
- What do I want to be?
- What do I want to do?
- What do I want to have?
Think of each question as it relates to your roots (mental, emotional, physical, spiritual, social, financial). Mentally – what do you want to be? Strong, sharp, clear? Emotionally – what do you want to be? Connected, calm, content? What do you want to be physically? Fit, strong, vibrant? You get the idea.
Asking yourself what you want to be, do and have, both in your personal and professional lives gives you filters to use when making decisions (large or small). Another way of looking at this is to ask the following:
Does saying yes to this decision move me closer to or further away from what I want to be, do, and have?
Take some time today to brainstorm and create a top five do, be, have list. For fun, match each be, do, have to a root and see what connections you can make between your thoughts, feelings, and actions. Use your list as a filter the next time you make a significant decision and notice how your feel when you shift you from auto-pilot mode to deliberate decision making mode.
