If you’re like me, you can get bogged down when I’m trying to make a decision. I have so many thoughts that go through my mind – thoughts like:
Should I stay in my current job or find another one?
I should move, shouldn’t it? Where to, though?
I don’t know which way to turn!
I’m scared to make a decision – what if it’s the wrong one?
What if it doesn’t work out, I lose all my money and I end up living on the street like a bag lady? (my favourite decision motivator)
I’m going to share with you one book that has really helped me make better decisions in my life. During different times in my life, I’ve turned to this book and it has greatly helped me make the hard choices in life and has provided me with a roadmap in improving my decisions.
“What Do I Do Now? Dr. Foster’s 30 Laws Of Great Decision Making” by Dr. Charles Foster offers great advice in dealing with the complexities of making better decisions and breaks them down into actionable items. Dr. Foster should know as this book is based on 12 years of study of great decision-makers.
I’m not going to go over all 30 laws, you’ll have to read the entire book for that, but I’ll highlight the decision-making laws that have helped me the most.
Whatever you’re trying to decide, you have everything you need inside you right now to be one of those people who easily, quickly, and comfortably make great decisions. – Dr. Charles Foster
Law #1: Focus on the Most Important Thing
This law is the #1 law and is the most important one. It states that you should be focusing on the most important thing in your life right now and not letting minor factors distract you from making the right decision.
Let’s say that you are weighing the pros and cons of accepting a position at a high paying position in a corporation or starting your own natural foods company. Lots of decisions to make in either case. It can get very confusing – which one do you take?
Well, this is where you ask what the most important factor in your life? That last part is very important as the most important factor will vary greatly amongst different people.
Success and having a high-paying job may tempt you to consider taking the corporate position – after all, isn’t that what you went to business school for? Plus, if you accept the position, you’ll be able to start buying some of the luxuries that you’ve sacrificed for during your school years. But, what if your most important factor is to provide quality foods made from natural products and you feel passionate about it? If the most important thing in your life is to share with the world what you have learned about natural foods then you know what choice you should be making.
In every choice that we have, there is always one most important factor that should have more weight than any other decision. I think most of us deep-down know what this factor is and may be scared to acknowledge it. Don’t make a bad decision based on your fear. Give the most important factor the weight that it deserves and once you’ve made the decision based on that factor, then trust yourself with that answer.
Law #6: Look Ahead
It’s easy to make a decision when we are in crisis mode. A tiger is coming after you – what do you do? Run, of course! But, what about when you’re soul is slowly being sucked out of you because of your current circumstances? What decision are you going to go with then? After all, the pain is not that bad. Plenty of people live with the pain of unrealized dreams every day.
But, what if you looked ahead when you are about to make a life-changing decision. Rather than taking a short-term view of your life, take the longer-term view. How will your decision play out over the next five years. What about ten years from now?
In order to make good decisions you have to project the decision into the future, rather than be distracted by the present.
Thinking of buying a house or continuing renting your condo? Have you saved up the necessary 20% down payment for the house? Are you prepared to live in that house for the next 5-7 years minimum in order to break even? What about when the furnace breaks down – do you have a sufficient emergency fund to deal with whatever happens? After all, owning a house is far different than renting. You can’t call the landlord to come unplug your toilet when it backs up or replace your fridge when the freezer motor stops. It’s all up to you.
Projecting your decision into the future will help you make the right decision. You can picture yourself in that new home, with all your nice and shiny new furniture, with maybe a dog in the backyard. Picture the bills and the mortgage payments and the fact that you can’t move as quickly or as easily if you lose your job and have to relocate while you’re at it. If you know that you are truly comfortable with the decision that will be affecting your life in the longer-term, then sure go ahead with that decision.
Law #9: Get What You Need to Feel Safe
This law is an important law and one that you are more likely to be aware of. In its essence, this law asks that you consider what you need to be safe in order for the decision to be the right decision for you.
If you are thinking of moving across the country to accept a new position, what do you need to do in order to feel safe about your decision? Worrying about the decision won’t move you forward. You have to reflect on what you need in order to alleviate the worry and then can you trust in your decision.
What would be the worst-case scenario if you moved to a new city? Maybe they decided that you are not the right person for the job, which resulted in you having no money and no place to live, with all your worldly possessions lined up around you in the bus shelter. How likely is that though, really?
When you think about the worst-case scenario it’s important to think realistically. Okay, maybe you lost the position, but would you really end up on the street? If you think you would, what could you do to ensure that didn’t happen. If that means saving a lot more money and building an emergency fund that covered six months living expenses, plus moving expenses, and maybe opening up a line of credit at your bank – would that alleviate your fears about the worst-case scenario happening?
Do what you need to do in order to feel safe about your decision. Once you have your safety needs met, then act on your decision.
Law #14: Never Let a Lower Priority Outweigh a Higher Priority
This law is very similar to Law#1 in that you have to remember what is your highest priority and not let a minor priority outweigh it. You have to have clear priorities when you’re making decisions.
Some lower priorities that Dr. Foster talks about in this chapter includes taking immediate gratification over a lot of gratification later on and doing things that are urgent rather than what’s important to us. It’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking of immediate and urgent actions, rather than deciding on what’s more important to us. Don’t fall into the trap.
Start to make better decisions based on your highest priorities in life.
Law #30: Make Decisions to Make Things Wonderful
Everyone makes decisions to solve problems and stay out of trouble. People who make great decisions think about how to make things wonderful. – Dr. Charles Foster
This is such an important law that so many of us overlook, me included. It basically has to do with remembering that you should never settle when you are making a decision. Think of all the different possibilities in life and don’t limit yourself to only one choice.
Let’s say that you want to be location independent and have a career that you can work from anywhere. Wonderful! You decide to live in Costa Rica because you heard such wonderful stories about the people, the climate and the lifestyle there. Yes, maybe it would be wonderful to live there so you decide to buy a condo. But, why would you limit yourself to only one location and one area? Why not “shoot for the moon” and house-sit in a mansion in Buenos Aires? Or spend every three months living in a different part of the world. The possibilities are endless, but if you have already closed the gate on the decision to live in one area, in one type of housing or in one career, then you have already placed limits on your life. If you are going to make decisions, then make them so that they take all the possibilities into consideration and make your life a wonderful one to live.
We all have to make decisions in life. Some are very easy to make while others can be agonizing ones that could potentially affect every facet of our lives. The 30 Laws of Great Decision Making can help you to gain the confidence in yourself and your decisions. As with everything else, great decisions are made with practise – the more decisions you make, the better you get at making them. Go and make some great decisions today!
What are you having problems deciding about right now in your own life? I hope the above Laws will help you to make better decisions that move you forward in your life.
If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or subscribing to my feed to have all the future articles delivered to your feed reader. Thanks!
{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
Some excellent points here Karen,
I think getting your priorities right is key, and ultimately not getting bogged down with it all.
I always tend to just jump in, not always the best way to get things done because you rarely know whats waiting for you and sometimes it can cause more trouble than help, that said it does work for me, probably as I’m not much of a thinker.
Awesome post of to spread it now
TheInfoPreneur´s last blog ..Why Being Normal Is The New Extraordinary
Thanks, James
It can be hard to determine what our priorities are in order to make the better decisions. Also, we sometimes fool ourselves and think that some choices are of higher priority than others, but if we really stopped to think and reflect on what is truly important to us, we can see what our highest priority is. For many, this is their family – and so you filter all your choices through this #1 priority to determine which path or decision to take.
Glad that you liked it.
Karen
Making decisions about our lives and doing what we feel is best is important as long as it follows the high priorities. When you figure out what matters and act on it fast just go for it, you’ll figure out the rest in good time.
Good post!
Eric´s last blog ..Lets Help Each Other
That’s right, Eric – after you’ve made the decision, then acting on it is the next step. You will have to trust yourself that you made the right choice for your life and also have confidence that even though you don’t have everything figured out, you will make the decision a successful one.
Thanks,
Karen
That’s definitely a book I’m adding to my list. Thanks for sharing Karen!
Phil Starn´s last blog ..30 Days That Will Change Your Life
Hi Phil, I’m so glad that you liked the book and will be checking it out. There are a ton of useful information in the book that I couldn’t cover in this article. He has a section called Perspectives and talks about the biggest 10 decisions we face – e.g. when to get married, what kind of career you should follow, whether to have kids, what kind of spouse you should have, plus he goes into details about all the other Laws.
It’s an excellent resource to have.
I think with Law number 9, we have to acknowledge that nothing is 100% safe. Life is risk. Life never promises us to guarantee us full security. Sometimes, knowing that there is a chance of failure can inspire you to be more urgent in taking action and then making sure it brings you the result you want. We have to sometimes raise our fear threshold.
Gordie ´s last blog ..You’re A Bad Parent If …
That’s right, Gordie
We can never be totally safe in our decisions, but the key is to have figured out what you need personally to live with the worst-case scenario if it ever happened and once you figure that out, do what you need to do to satisfy that safety need. Everything else that you don’t know would just have to be handled as best you can.
You make a good point – knowing that there is a good chance of failure can be a huge motivator in making better decisions. However, it’s important to remember not to let fear be the over-riding emotion when making the big decisions in life. You don’t want to act just because you’re scared of something – you want the decision to pull you toward it because it’s the right one for you. Nothing wrong with taking a step back, taking a deep breath and really analzying your choices. If we act too fast due to fear, then there is an increased likelihood of living with regret later on.
Thanks,
Karen
I often have trouble making decisions, not only big decisions but small ones too. I don’t know what it is, but I do know that the answers are inside somewhere. I really love the last point of doing what will make life wonderful – it seems blatantly obvious, but the truth is that it isn’t and we often decide thing just because we think we ’should’ rather than it being the right choice.
Ruth – Web Career Girl´s last blog ..Can You See the Bigger Picture? How Your Effort Will Pay Off In the Long Term
Welcome Ruth,
As Dr. Foster writes in the book, we all make decisions big and small. The good decision makers are ones that are able to consistently make good decisions based on his 30 Laws. It becomes easier the more good decisions you make as you build confidence and trust in yourself to make the good decision.
Yes, sometimes the most obvious choices aren’t so obvious
Why make a decision that will benefit you slightly when making one that will benefit you greatly and in unexpected ways is also available?
Thanks for the comment,
Karen
A really interesting post Karen. Thanks.
I think part of the problem with people making decisions in their life comes down to fear. Not fear of what they get as an end result but of opening themselves up, putting themselves out there and still failing which they believe will result in them not being loved by others. There’s always a moment in major decision making when you question whether others that matter to you will agree with your decision. That’s a tough fear and problem to overcome, even if in nearly all cases that fear is unjustified.
Some great advice here Karen. Thank you
Ben´s last blog ..Music: The Soundtrack to life
Hi Ben,
Thanks. I’m glad that everyone is enjoying this article and that it seems to be resonating with people.
Fear of rejection by those we love can be a major factor, but I do think there comes a time that you have to be strong enough to push through any resistence you feel from those closest to us. It’s your life, after all? I don’t know anyone who survives to the end without failing and without being bruised along the way – that’s just part of life. It’s up to you to determine what’s worth fighting for, too.
Just my opinion.
Karen
Yeah completely agree I just think that not everyone understands that or realises why it’s important that they keep pushing through.
Ben´s last blog ..Music: The Soundtrack to life
It’s hard to think that we are so close sometimes to success, if only we persevere and have faith in our decisions.