Quality of your decisions decides the quality of your Life
Every moment,
we are exercising a choice and
taking a decision.
How so?
Right now,
you chose to read this and
to keep reading it (Good decision!)
And through the day and night,
you will make a series of small
and big decisions
which will leave its impact right now
and over a long period of time.
And you have taken many such decisions
Some gave you joy, happiness, fulfilment while others gave you sadness, disappointment and regrets.
To move to a future
where you will have no regrets,
you need to be Ok with
the consequences of your decisions.
To be Ok
with the consequences of your decisions,
you need to improve
your ability to make decisions
Would you agree?
If yes, how often do we look back at our decisions and understand how did we arrive at those decisions?
Think about it
We spend a lot of time
deciding on which
phone, car, TV or any gadget to buy.
Do we ever spend time later
to understand how
did we take that decision?
We take time
deciding on a fitness regime
or a diet plan.
Do we ever spend time later
to understand how
did we take that decision?
“Why bother?
It’s working fine”
you may say
We say this because
we are only outcome or results focused.
If it works,
good decision.
If it does not work,
then chuck it and let’s buy another one.
We are in a “consume and discard” mode
What happens when
we have to decide on issues
which are longer-term eg
choosing an education stream or
a profession or
a business or
a partner or
a house?
If we have not evaluated
our decisions at the smaller ones,
how can we be sure about the bigger ones?
Gary Kasparov (see video),
the legendary Chess Grandmaster,
used to analyze his every move
to understand how he made that decision.
He wanted to know
what facts he noticed or did not
and what beliefs and conclusions
he drew on, to make that move
He did this post every match for all the years he played
This kind of thinking is called Systems Thinking.
We have an invisible decision-making system.
The more we shine a light on it, the better we become at it.
Why should we do this?
Because Quality of your decisions decides the quality of your Life
For next week,
Write down in a notebook for decisions which have an impact for a day or two max
How you made the decision – what facts/ views/ opinions and beliefs you considered?
Read your entries at the end of the week
Share your experience in comments