5 Ways To Make A Clear Decision

Making a clear decision can be challenging sometimes. I think decisions are tough when everything is running through your mind about the pros, the cons, and the what if’s. A way I cleared out some of that mental confusion on making clear decisions is framework. 

I really thrive when I can follow a framework of something that aligns with who I am, and as a very indecisive person I needed some help with this. To come up with this framework I centered it around 7 questions I wrote about here. 

Based off these questions, there are some more generic questions you can ask to discover if a decision is a good one or not. 

Is the world a better place or am I not contributing to harm or negativity in the world? 

This question right away will tell you if your decision is in the least harmful or not. Being a big decision or not, deciphering if it is one that will have a negative impact can help show you that it may be a bad decision. 

From here, this is an easy way to weed out the bad decisions pretty quickly. On the latter, if your decision is making the world a better place or making your specific world a better place it can lead you to dig a little deeper to see if it’s a good decision for you. 

Does this decision make my life better, easier, or do I grow in some way? 

I like this question because once you’ve answered the first one and you know at least it is not a harmful decision you can check into this question next. This question lets you see how this decision will impact your life. I added more than just making your life “better” because sometimes decisions can still be good, but may come with some growth that will be good long term. 

If a decision betters your life whether that is making it happier or more full, easier and simplified, or you can learn something about yourself and grow it can indicate a good decision. See what something making your life “better” means to you and you can go even further. Giving generic words my own definitions makes it mean more to me. 

What is my gut telling me about this decision? 

Sometimes in overthinking, you surpass your intuition and go straight to the brain doing all the talking. Our bodies are quite intuitive and you can tell a lot about a situation just by the way it makes your body feel or what you feel in your heart. If you begin thinking about a decision you need to make, sit in silence with the choice you’re considering and see how you feel inside. 

For me, a good indicator of a good decision is decreased anxiety, my mind is not racing, and I feel mostly at ease. For decisions that may not be good for me I tend to get a pit in my stomach or my chest, I begin overthinking quickly and can’t quiet my mind down, and I feel restless. Your body knows what is good for you even when your mind takes over. Switch those roles for a while and sit with your body to answer this question. 

Does this question align with who I am and my values? 

I have become a big foundational person when it comes to decisions I make. After being very indecisive for so long, I took some time to figure out what was important to me and what values mattered to me. This question helps to see if the choice you’re making matches that foundational aspect of yourself. 

Your values and who you are is something to fall back on when something pops up in your life that may be confusing or hard to figure out. Utilizing the parts of yourself that make you who you are to answer these questions lets you know if your decision matches what is important to you. 

How does the decision make me feel physically, spiritually, and emotionally?

This question is a well rounded way to close up your assessment of the decision you’re making. The parts of this question lets you hit important spots that are important, but can be left out when it comes to making decisions. When making a decision sometimes it can be purely cognitive, and the choice can get caught up in all the thinking you’re doing about it. 

But asking how this decision makes you feel physically as in how does my body respond to this choice. By spiritually, I am talking about does it match what you practice spiritually at a foundational level? And emotionally, how is this making me feel emotionally? Emotions are information and can tell you a lot about the decision you're making. This trifecta covers a lot of areas that can help your decision be well rounded.