What’s the worst decision you made last year?
Why did it end up being the worst decision?
If you were to stop and think about your answer to these questions, you will probably find that your answer to the second question is a description of the outcome you got, rather than the decision itself.
We think our decisions are good when the outcome is good.
We think our decisions are bad when the outcome is bad.
But what if we made a good decision that led to a bad outcome?
For example, say you went through a green light and you had an accident, does this mean that going through the green light was a bad decision?
Or perhaps you rush through a red light but don’t have an accident, does this mean that going through a red light was a good decision?
When we evaluate our decisions we tend to focus on the outcome rather than the process we went through to make that decision, but the problem with this approach is that we can’t always control the outcome, and trying to predict the outcome can lead us to making bad decisions.
It’s important to realise that you can make the best decision you can but the future will tell its own story.
Rather than basing the success of our decision on the outcome, we need to base it on how intentional and thoughtful we were when making the decision.
Every decision we make has layers and its core is shaped by our priorities, values, emotions and circumstances but sometimes these layers can be misaligned.
You might feel obligated to say yes to something even when it’s not your true priority and you really want to say no.
You make a choice to do something through fear rather than it being fuelled by meaning and purpose.
Often our choices are based on feelings and emotions, which are changeable, and this is quite common until you have a decision making process or system to follow.
Intentional decisions are firmly rooted in your core values and priorities – they are grounded in this clarity and represent strong alignment with these things.
Unintentional decisions are influenced by external factors, such as external pressures, societal norms and perceived obligations which cloud our judgement. They are reactive to our emotional states and making them leads to decisions that feel misaligned to our higher self.
Therefore the only way we can go about making better decisions, intentional decisions, is to move with clarity rather than emotion.
This means we need to get really clear on what our core values are as these are the foundation of every intentional decision. They reflect your beliefs and guiding principles and aspects of your life that mean the most to you.
You also need to be clear on your priorities – what holds the greatest importance in your current circumstances – which will be different in different seasons, for example, in winter it’s a priority to wear a coat, but in summer it’s a priority to have your sunglasses at hand.
The point is that our priorities will shift and we need to recognise and work with this – family is a priority to you but if you’re gunning for promotion then work will need to be your priority until that process is finished.
Intentional decisions consider your priorities and make sure they remain aligned with your values.
So knowing what you now know, if you were to once again reflect on the worst decision you made last year, rather than judging it on the outcome you got, ask yourself whether it aligned with your core values and priorities or external factors and reactive emotional states.
This is the how you judge how good your decision really was because regardless of the outcome, if it was an intentional decision that was made with thought and care – you followed a decision making process – I personally wouldn’t be classifying it as the worst decision you made, just a good decision that led to a poor outcome – there is a big difference.