How To Make Decisions With Confidence

Insecurity causes many people not to make decisions for themselves. The fear of being wrong and making a fool of yourself or not having clear preferences can lead to wrong decisions being made. 

Insecurity can be due to different factors, such as education, culture, family nucleus or concern for having to give an answer. In fact, this last variable influences the decision-making process as a negative emotion, as pointed out by some experiments by the Department of Cognitive Psychology at the University of Texas.

The biggest fear is not choosing the right option, when, in reality, there does not have to be only one. Among all the alternatives, there may be several suitable ones.

Making a wrong decision should also not be a cause of torment, but rather a learning. The important thing is to make decisions autonomously and responsibly, being aware of their reasons and consequences.

These keys can help you make more confident and autonomous decisions.

goals

Setting specific objectives favors decision-making, since it is easier to identify the purpose to be achieved.

Thus, pursuing dreams or working for a passion can help to better visualize the path to follow and discern what must be done to achieve them.

Both short-term goals and those that we set ourselves in a longer way over time are important. The former drive behavior through more immediate achievements, which guide us towards the latter: projects that represent our deepest motivations.

The specific milestones that we reach in the journey towards achieving a final goal play an essential role. These provide us with feedback about our performance and help us to perceive that, little by little, the distance between the current state and the desired state is being reduced.

Assess the true risks

Some of the decisions we make in our day to day involve a certain degree of risk. These elections, as well as the Assessment of the probability of consequences are the result of complex reasoning processes.

Making a list of the real risks and considering which ones can be taken can offer some advantage in dealing with the situation. That is, they make it easy to prepare in advance.

Along these lines, studies such as the one proposed by Professor Beisswingert’s team highlight the importance of estimating risk to reduce the feeling of loss of control when having to decide.

Also, making mistakes doesn’t have to be a problem, as you learn what to do and what not to do in the future. Let’s not forget that learning often happens by trial and error.

After a success, successful action is quickly reinforced. On the other hand, failure leads us to make new attempts and change strategies to reach the goal. Therefore, the possibility of making another decision to get back on track and start over is an alternative that is also within our reach.   

Learn to listen to others

Listening to other people’s opinions can be very helpful when making decisions. In fact, when we solve problems on our own, very often the information comes from others.

The others offer different points of view, consider different aspects and their comments can help us decide what is best for us in each case. For example, knowing the experiences of others in a situation similar to the one we face can serve as a reference and offer us a map of more realistic alternatives.

The difficult thing, sometimes, is not being tempted to let others decide for us. Therefore, it is important to emphasize that the considerations of other people should serve to broaden our perspective and make decisions in a more informed way.

Accompany decisions with personal development

This is one of the signs that best indicates that a good decision has been made. Analyzing the consequences that each choice has on personal well-being is a great help to decide or even review previous deliberations.

Decision making is a process of learning and self-knowledge, which gives us the opportunity to work on our personal growth day by day.

Final note

These guidelines can support us in making decisions with confidence.

The importance of clearly defining objectives, evaluating possible risks and listening to other people’s experiences are strategic points to consider in order to enrich ourselves personally and decide more confidently.