Effective decision making is an important aspect of life. It means choosing between two or more options, without knowing how this may turn out, but trying to find the most effective solution to a problem. Most people struggle with decision making, it takes them too long, they overthink, get anxious and stressed. But there’s a simple way to overcome that and start making wiser and faster choices in everyday life.

How long does it take you to make a decision?

I know some people who can think for days, who play different scenarios in their heads, try to predict every possible outcome. And then to prepare for it. All this just so that they can take the best decision.

But how is that working out for them?

Well, most of the times it just isn’t. It brings stress, ruins our whole day, and never lets us do the best we can with what we have.

Then how do you take decisions fast? How can you get better at decision making?

Simple. You just choose one of the options – the one you think is right at that moment, and you make the best of it. Then you never look back or ask yourself whether it would have turned out better if you had chosen differently.

It’s easy to get lost in thoughts like these. But what’s the point?

In order to learn how to take the best decisions you first need to understand something.

We make choices. All the time. And each of them shapes our future and who we become.

So if you’re used to choosing what seems nice just for the moment (like eating that chocolate) without taking into consideration the effect it will have on you in the future (being unhealthy and out of shape), you won’t change for the better.

In fact, every area in your life will be worse.

You may think that eating chocolate once every few days won’t do you any harm. And it’s true. But the problem is that when we choose instant gratification, we do it on autopilot. We don’t really think about it. We just take the action because something is tasty, feels or looks good, or is easy.

In the case of the chocolate, it all lasts for a brief moment. And we end up making decisions like this without even realizing it.
But when we stop, contemplate and see the bigger picture, it looks awful.

Now that you know that, it’s time to understand something else.

You’re in control. You can change. You can turn your life around and start over. All you need to do is decide that you want it.

And when you have a vision, know what you want in life and define what you need to do to get it, you can start making choices based on that. That’s the formula for effective decision making.

So the next time you have to take a decision quickly, don’t think too much. Don’t even give your brain time to analyze all the possible outcomes, to imagine how good you’ll feel if you choose the easier, simpler or faster option.

Just be sure about your choice. Because it will be the one that gets you closer to your goals.

All that is quite simple, right?

And why shouldn’t it be? Life is simple. You either choose this, or that. But if you have a bigger goal to keep in mind, you can just take decisions fast based on it.

Then you won’t be tempted by all the excuses you’ll think of, won’t be in doubt and won’t use up your willpower in daily decisions like whether to eat junk food or not.

What about you? How do you go about effective decision making?