Decisions, decisions. We all have to make them every day, so you’d think we would all be experts at it. And yet, some of our decisions don’t turn out the way we had hoped they would. Like other life skills, making good decisions takes experience and practice.
When it’s decision time, it can help to think through some things before going ahead. Try using the following steps to lead you through making a decision. Answering the questions under each step will help you take the time to make the best decision you can.
Step 1: Determine the decision.
What needs to be decided?
Who needs to make the decision?
Who will the decision affect?
Step 2: Find out more about the decision.
What do you know about it?
What do you need to find out?
How do you feel about it?
How do others feel about it?
What other things affect the decision?
Step 3: Look at the choices you have.
What choices are available?
Have all possible choices been considered?
Step 4: Figure out the pros and cons of each choice.
What’s good and bad about each choice?
What are the chances of each good or bad thing happening?
How will they affect what is important to you?
Step 5: Weigh your choices.
How does each choice balance when you and others are considered?
How do your choices compare?
Step 6: Make your best choice.
Which choice is most likely to have more good effects than bad effects?
Step 7: Evaluate the choice you made.
What were the results of your decision on yourself? On others?
Knowing what you know now, would you have made the same choice?
Next time you’re faced with a similar decision, will you make the same choice?
