Many people have difficulty making decisions, and this can be stressful. Maybe people won’t like your decision or maybe you don’t have all the information you need to feel comfortable making a decision. Sometimes people don’t feel confident in their ability to make a good decision or they could be looking for the “perfect” decision. I know someone who has a terrible time choosing what they want in a restaurant. They want to make the best possible choice. And maybe there’s a little FOMO going on too – what if they pick the chicken but the salmon is really tastier? They agonize over what to get and usually don’t even enjoy their meal because they are so worried they didn’t make the best decision.
Common pitfalls
In her article in Psychology Today, Tina Gilbertson discusses three common traps: not knowing what you want, being overly concerned about the impact of the decision on others, and being unable to decide without knowing all possible details about the subject. She encourages people to get comfortable making small decisions so that they are better equipped when more important questions arise. Sound advice!
Another thing to consider
I was recently in a program where another aspect of decision making came up – being clear about what your values are. This sparked some very interesting conversations about values and what beliefs were needed to support those. The program was focused on getting aligned with your business. (It was so valuable to me that I’m putting together a workshop of my own to help others get clear about their businesses and to transform their beliefs to better support their business goals.)
Values
But back to the values. Your non-negotiable values guide your conduct, behaviors, and decisions. Sometimes people haven’t stopped to clearly identify those. I know it was hard for me to come up with the three-to-four that are at the center of my business. I finally narrowed it down to these: win-win, evolving, comforting, and effective.
- Win-win: Serving the highest good of all involved. It includes integrity and being heart-centered. I design my business around this. I don’t offer services or packages that people won’t benefit from, and I only collaborate with people that I resonate with. Sometimes offers come up that are attractive in some ways, but I know they won’t be serving everyone’s highest good. I don’t choose those. Sometimes I talk potential clients out of booking a session with me because I’m not the best person to help them with what they need at that time. I can usually give them a name of someone who can help them better.
- Evolving: Growing, learning, adapting. I consistently acquire new knowledge which allows me to adapt to changing environments and to expand on what I offer. There are so many options for learning, and I’m a curious person. But not all courses and information are going to serve my business, my clients and myself. I don’t choose to take courses that won’t help me evolve in some meaningful way.
- Comforting: Being pleasant to work with and helping my clients be at ease. It’s important to me that my clients feel safe and heard with me, and know that they matter. Keeping this top of mind helps me respond in this way consistently. One of my coach referral partners told me recently that many of her clients refer to me as a fairy godmother!
- Effective: Producing results, being an expert. I choose to be totally present with my clients when we are working together. I use my gifts, skills, and experience to help them make the changes they want. There are lots of ways to approach the situations that my clients want to focus on. I make my choices based on what I think will be the most efficient and successful path for them at that time.
Aligning your beliefs helps too!
As you can see, values clearly help with the decision-making process. And I’ve made sure my subconscious supports these values too. If you think your subconscious needs a little help lining up with your values, I can help! You can book a session here.
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