We make decisions each and every day….

Decisions about how we spend out time. Decisions about how we spend our energy. Decisions about how we spend our money.

Our lives are fully of decisions.

but

Decisions are often difficult.

Decisions require mental energy and there’s plenty of evidence to show that as humans when we make too many decisions we suffer from ‘decision fatigue’ and often find it tough to make any more.

I can’t pretend I’m an expert decision maker. I often struggle with making certain decisions.

However I’m also conscious that if I avoid decision making it’ll have a negative impact to my life in a bunch of different ways.

Therefore I employ a bunch of techniques to help me make decisions. Techniques I want to share with you. Techniques which I use both professionally and personally. Techniques which hopefully you’ll find useful…

1. Understand that most decisions are part of a journey

One of the reasons we avoid making decisions is the fear of making the wrong one.

Most of us whether we like it or not are loss adverse. We avoid making decisions due to this fear of making a decision which we might get wrong.

However often not making a decision is worse than not deciding at all.

It’s understandable. Often we avoid decisions about where to invest our time, our money and our intellectual capital due to fear and it’s tough to get away from this fear.

However one of the things that help me make decisions more often is one clear statement…

The decisions we make aren’t stand alone. They are part of a journey.

Most decisions lead to more decisions. With most decisions you can choose to change your mind. If you’ve found you’ve made a mistake most decisions can be changed. Most decisions can be tweaked on the way to get closer to the outcome you need.

When you put the decision making process in this context, instead of thinking about the decisions you make every day ‘final and irrevocable’ I find that making decisions is a lot easier.

When we understand that making decisions aren’t about finality but about progress helps us to make good decisions more often.

However we all want to make better decisions more of the time….which brings me onto my next tip.

2. Build a decision process

When it comes to making better decisions there’s a number of things you can do. However I find that when it comes to making a decision it’s worth putting it through a ‘decision making process’.

My particular decision making process includes taking some time to consider the pros and cons, the ‘fly on the wall’ technique (where we try to look at the decision from the perspective of someone else) and consider a bunch of different options when coming to the final decision.

When it comes to the work we do with both our private and corporate clients we follow a similar sort of process.

This means using professional tools to ensure the recommendations we make to our clients which help them make smart financial decisions have a clear process behind it.

Which brings me onto my third tip…

3. For some decisions it’s worth getting some help…

Often when we avoid decisions it’s because we don’t feel we have enough information to make enough of an informed choice.

It’s at this time when we avoid the decision making process. However instead of avoiding the decision it’s worth getting some help. You can do this in a number of ways…

Many of you might try to understand more about the context of the decision. For most of us this would mean reading books or conducting research online to gather more information to help us with our decision.

However the other option many of us have is to employ professionals who can help us with the knowledge and information required to make smarter decisions.

If those decisions are specifically related to our business we might recruit a business coach, if it’s a legal related decision we might approach a lawyer and if it’s a decision related to our finances (either corporate or personal) we might seek help from a financial planner.

We’re lucky enough to work with some great decision makers. Individuals who make decisions every day but also individuals who understand that they might need a little help and it’s worth paying for a professional to help them.

It’s not the right approach for everyone however engaging a professional to make the right decision is always worth considering.

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So there it is. 3 tips to help you make better decisions….let me know what you do to help you decide!

If you need help making the right financial decisions to help you achieve your longer term financial goals and how we can help you feel free to get in touch by emailing CassieDaems@cervellofp.co.uk