Indecision is a decision, but it’s a pretty terrible one.
At the crux of much of my work with clients is decision-making.
Decisions around what career path to take.
Decisions around which working hours or pattern will provide the best balance for home life.
Decisions around when it’s time to move on from your current job.
Decisions around whether taking that counter offer is a wise move.
Decisions around whether to return to study and re-qualify.
Decisions around whether quit and run is the best course of action.
Decision-making is hard, especially when the stakes are high, all of the options are complicated, or you aren't confident you can make the right call.
A client asked me a great question the other day. She said “You know those people who always seem really sure they’ve made the right decision? How are they like that?”
I said “I do! People think I am one of them.”
The truth is, sometimes they - sometimes I - don’t.
We don’t know that we’ve made the right decision. Some of us just have a higher tolerance, or even an appetite for, risk. That, and the ability to back ourselves, knowing that if for any reason things don’t work out, if for any reason that decision turned out to be the ‘wrong’ one, we’ll be able to deal with it.
There are also times, particularly for those of us who are naturally intuitive, where we DO know that a decision is inherently right (or wrong) for us. Often there’s no science behind it, but there is much to be said for listening to your gut and your heart as well as your head.
At the end of the day, there often isn’t a singular ‘right’ decision. A decision can lead to an undesirable outcome, without meaning you made a bad decision.
Much of what happens after making a decision is out of our control and unpredictable.
You can make decisions from a place of faith, or you can make them from a place of fear. You get to choose!
Here are 5 tips for making great decisions:
Don’t drag out the decision-making process.
Analysis paralysis is real! Often the decisions you make under pressure are at least as good, if not better than the ones that you spend days agonising over.
Make sure your decision addresses the root cause, not just the symptoms.
Imposter Syndrome, limiting beliefs, a lack of boundaries, people-pleasing, perfectionism, and all those other confidence-zappers are going to follow you into that brilliant new job or career change, UNLESS you tackle them head on.
Learn how to balance the risk and reward.
Most of the time, things are just as likely to go right as they are to go wrong, but particularly for us anxious types, we tend to assume the worst.
Seek counsel from the wise, without opinion shopping.
There is so much pressure to make the ‘right decision’ when it comes to career moves and the temptation to opinion shop is strong, but rarely the solution. What results is more doubt, less clarity, and the inevitable ‘freeze’, which leads to inaction.
Choose the path that allows you to be more of yourself.
It’s very easy to get hung up on what looks right on paper, but I always recommend choosing the people, places and opportunities that allow you to take up space and embrace your authenticity.
Just watch out for ‘decisions’ which keep all your options open. There is nothing wrong with parallel planning or contingency planning (both are smart!), but beware of keeping so many options on the table that you haven’t really made a decision at all.
The good news is you can build your resilience when it comes to risk. Coaching is a great way to not only help you make smart decisions about your career, but also build your confidence in your own decision-making capabilities.
Indecision is a decision, but it’s a pretty terrible one.
If you have a decision to make (perhaps a long overdue one!) and you’d like to talk it through, I’m here for you.
You can reach out for a chat with me HERE.