The art of decision making
Why decision making is important, honouring your values, thinking long term, and more.
By reading this today you’ll learn how to make good decisions. And at the end I have a small homework assignment for you, a journalling prompt that is sure to change your life.
The importance of decision making
I think it’s important to start with, why? Why is this important?
The skill of decision making is vital for your success. Your life situation can be thought of as the sum total of your decisions. A decision could be a life or death choice, a fork in the road, deciding you want to make for dinner, or how you want to live.
No matter what the decision is, it’s important to actually make it.
Because by not making decisions, you’re letting society decide for you.
By taking the path of least resistance, you will find yourself soaked in mediocrity, suffering and regret.
The default settings instilled into us from society chain us far from our potential.
By not deciding, you’re taking a ride on the freight train of the collective consciousness.
Things won’t work themselves out. You have to be able to make big and scary decisions.
How to make good decisions
There are many types of decisions that need to be made on this journey of self actualisation that we are on. Here are some examples:
Should I work on my dating or career first?
Should I focus on meditation and spirituality or health and fitness?
Should I go to university?
How much of my time should be for family?
Should I switch careers?
Should I try psychedelics?
How should I invest my energy, time, finances?
Am I someone who eats junk food?
Instead of choosing to do what is normal, ask yourself these questions.
Critically analyse the playing field, avoid conformity from indecision, make big decisions and live the good life. Sounds good?
So how do we make these decisions?
Understand yourself (values & goals)
Every decision honours one value and disregards another.
Ordering pizza honours the value of pleasure, and dishonours health.
Living in the countryside honours the value of nature and dishonours the value of convenience.
Meditating 1 hour every morning honours spirituality and dishonours whatever is being replaced by that.
So know your highest values, and make decisions that align with them.
If you highly value health, you won’t even consider having a chocolate bar, if you’re grounded in your values, you can quickly decide what it best for you.
This sounds simple but wow it’s powerful.
I know for many, you don’t know your values, don’t have a vision, and lack clear goals. Soon I will be launching vision and goal-setting coaching, in which my aim is to systematically help you understand your values, craft a vision, set goals and strategise to actualise this vision.
Aside from this paid coaching, there will also be free consultation calls so keep your eyes out for that. Anyway…
A crucial part of decision making is being able to “look down the road”.
Think long-term and many steps ahead
This involves not fearing for the immediate emotional consequences, or the situation after one week, but instead looking months or years ahead.
Frequently the most powerful and bold decisions are initially very uncomfortable or painful. Leaving a relationship, moving countries or quitting a job all are stressful in the beginning.
So don’t be short sighted. Be conscious of what’s most important, and look years into the future. Be a long-term thinker while making decisions.
Another important factor is taking into consideration 2nd order consequences. I’ll use the example of buying a TV:
1st order analysis - I get a nice TV but I lose $1000.
2nd order analysis - Because I have a TV I will spend more time watching movies and shows on it, this will take up more of my time, which takes away from my family and business.
In a thread on this subject I wrote about this concept from the perspective of investing. Let’s say 9/11 just happened, there are two types of investors:
1st order investor - Shorts airline companies
2nd order investor - Realises that airport security will increase, so lines will be longer, so more people will spend time shopping, so buys stock in companies with shops in airports.
I hope you can see the power of this mental shift.
Summary // TLDR
So to summarise:
Indecision is a decision, don’t stall.
Understand your values, and goals, and anchor decisions to them.
Use long term-thinking while deciding.
Think of 2nd/3rd/4th order consequences.
When contemplating a decision, look down the road and say, from making this decision am I more so embodying my values and closer to my goals, is my vision for the future being actualised? If the answer is yes, it is probably the right decision.
Quick Homework assignment
Write at the top of a piece of paper or digital document:
“What is the default trajectory of my life right now”
If you don’t make any more bold decisions, and just follow this track you’re on, where will it lead you?
After writing this, decide if this is a life path that you’re satisfied with? Is that the actualisation of your highest potential?
If not, write another prompt:
“What are some bold decisions i could make to shift this trajectory into something better”
Stay mindful of these concepts, reread this if needed, because truely understanding and implementing these ideas into your life will pay massive dividends.
If you want to push yourself and do more:
Ask yourself: What are the best and worst decisions I’ve made in my life, what made them good/bad?
Deeply contemplate a decision and decide (I will never eat junk food again because it doesn’t honour my highest values of health, excellence, etc).
Thanks for reading
That’s all for today’s newsletter. Thank you for reading my friend (:
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As always, any feedback is greatly appreciated.
See you next time 🐇