There are a number of strategies that you can employ to improve your decision making. It may be helpful to try some of the methods suggested below.
1. Clarify decision difficulties.
List the things that make your career decision a difficult one. Once you clearly define the problems, the solutions are often easier to see. You may want to try to categorize your difficulties. You can separate those you can do something about from those you cannot influence. Or you may want to look at short term versus long term problems. However you are able to clarify the nature and differences of your difficulties may be helpful.
2. List how you can obtain support.
You may underestimate the help available from friends, relatives, counselors, and others. If you feel that you must carry the entire burden of such difficulties, you will have a heavy load indeed! Nonetheless, self reliance is an important characteristic to nurture when it comes to decision making. Ultimately, the decision must be yours.
1. Clarify decision difficulties.
List the things that make your career decision a difficult one. Once you clearly define the problems, the solutions are often easier to see. You may want to try to categorize your difficulties. You can separate those you can do something about from those you cannot influence. Or you may want to look at short term versus long term problems. However you are able to clarify the nature and differences of your difficulties may be helpful.
2. List how you can obtain support.
You may underestimate the help available from friends, relatives, counselors, and others. If you feel that you must carry the entire burden of such difficulties, you will have a heavy load indeed! Nonetheless, self reliance is an important characteristic to nurture when it comes to decision making. Ultimately, the decision must be yours.
3.Consider whether a deeper issue may be complicating things.
In a later chapter you will be reviewing a number of life issues that can influence your ability to make wise decisions. Such developmental issues have a direct affect upon many parts of your life. If an issue such as identity is not successfully resolved at the appropriate time in your development as an adult, there may be significant repercussions related to your ability to make wise decisions.
4. Use the step by step decision making process.
This involves a conscious plan of action, and setting a realistic decision deadline. This is essentially what you are doing by following the process outlined in this booklet.
5. Cultivate your intuition.
Intuitive decision making can be a useful supplement to the logical model of decision making. As you will see, intuition is particularly useful under certain conditions and can widen the range of your alternatives.
6. Spend time clarifying your goals.
Decisions should be put within a larger context. If you do not have a clear goal for making a decision, you will find it difficult to make a wise one. Once your goal is clear, the best choice between alternatives often becomes more evident. As David Campbell reminds us, "If you don't know where you're going, you'll probably end up somewhere else." A later chapter will focus on the importance of goals.
7. Make sure that you have a realistic view of the consequences. It is common to overestimate the negative consequences of a decision. It may help to think about the worst that might occur, and how likely this outcome may be. Likewise, be sure that you don't overestimate the possible positive outcomes. The key to this process is to be as objective as possible in your analysis of the possible outcomes of your decision options.
8. Adopt a "power perspective.
" If you are like most people, your view of things is sometimes colored by your state of mind. A given situation can look very different when you feel strong and confident, compared to when you may be feeling insecure or stressed out. Faced with a difficult decision, it can be helpful to ask yourself how you would approach the decision if you were feeling at your best, even if you are not feeling that way right at the moment. This perspective, though sometimes difficult to adopt, can help you overcome the influence of temporary emotions that may cloud your vision. This is not to say that you should disregard how you feel; rather that you should not let such feeling exert undue influence on your decisions. After all, your feelings can change; sometimes it is difficult to change decisions that you have made.
9. Base your decisions upon clear principles.
If you have established clear principles in your life, such principles will guide your decisions. Although emotions constantly change, carefully chosen guiding principles are a point of personal stability. Clear values, a consistent commitment to dealing with reality, and the formulation of a constructive personal philosophy are important elements that contribute to this decision resource. Just as in navigation of unfamiliar territory, when you are approaching decisions it is important to have a compass to orient yourself. Principles serve just such a function.
10. Hopefully, the suggestions provided above will ease the pain of decision making.
There is, however, another level of consideration that directly affects your decisions—the general effectiveness of your creative thinking skills.
In a later chapter you will be reviewing a number of life issues that can influence your ability to make wise decisions. Such developmental issues have a direct affect upon many parts of your life. If an issue such as identity is not successfully resolved at the appropriate time in your development as an adult, there may be significant repercussions related to your ability to make wise decisions.
4. Use the step by step decision making process.
This involves a conscious plan of action, and setting a realistic decision deadline. This is essentially what you are doing by following the process outlined in this booklet.
5. Cultivate your intuition.
Intuitive decision making can be a useful supplement to the logical model of decision making. As you will see, intuition is particularly useful under certain conditions and can widen the range of your alternatives.
6. Spend time clarifying your goals.
Decisions should be put within a larger context. If you do not have a clear goal for making a decision, you will find it difficult to make a wise one. Once your goal is clear, the best choice between alternatives often becomes more evident. As David Campbell reminds us, "If you don't know where you're going, you'll probably end up somewhere else." A later chapter will focus on the importance of goals.
7. Make sure that you have a realistic view of the consequences. It is common to overestimate the negative consequences of a decision. It may help to think about the worst that might occur, and how likely this outcome may be. Likewise, be sure that you don't overestimate the possible positive outcomes. The key to this process is to be as objective as possible in your analysis of the possible outcomes of your decision options.
8. Adopt a "power perspective.
" If you are like most people, your view of things is sometimes colored by your state of mind. A given situation can look very different when you feel strong and confident, compared to when you may be feeling insecure or stressed out. Faced with a difficult decision, it can be helpful to ask yourself how you would approach the decision if you were feeling at your best, even if you are not feeling that way right at the moment. This perspective, though sometimes difficult to adopt, can help you overcome the influence of temporary emotions that may cloud your vision. This is not to say that you should disregard how you feel; rather that you should not let such feeling exert undue influence on your decisions. After all, your feelings can change; sometimes it is difficult to change decisions that you have made.
9. Base your decisions upon clear principles.
If you have established clear principles in your life, such principles will guide your decisions. Although emotions constantly change, carefully chosen guiding principles are a point of personal stability. Clear values, a consistent commitment to dealing with reality, and the formulation of a constructive personal philosophy are important elements that contribute to this decision resource. Just as in navigation of unfamiliar territory, when you are approaching decisions it is important to have a compass to orient yourself. Principles serve just such a function.
10. Hopefully, the suggestions provided above will ease the pain of decision making.
There is, however, another level of consideration that directly affects your decisions—the general effectiveness of your creative thinking skills.