Decisions! Decisions! Decisions!

“What should I do?”

I get this question often. I’ve asked this question of myself equally as often.

“What should I do?”

I sometimes know the answer immediately. Usually, however, I never get beyond the question. Frustration just mounts and mounts and indecision escalates. The decision I must make seems never to get made.

Some of you are going off for the holiday weekend and you are carrying with you the burden of a big decision you are running out of time to make.

Back and forth you go between competing alternatives and, just as soon as you think you know what decision to make, then a dozen other reasons as to why that decision won’t work cloud your judgment. Before long, you are back at the drawing board, so to speak, and asking…

“What should I do?”
“What should I do?”

I know what you’re experiencing. I’ve been in the place of indecision in the face of important decisions more times than I have space here to detail. As a consequence, I have learned a few things that might help you make the decision you must make, once and for all.

What is it about which you must make a decision?

1. Should I call off the engagement? Postpone the wedding plans? End the marriage?
2. Should I leave this job? Take that new position? Leave this job with no other position?
3. Should I have the surgery? Take chemo or radiation?

What’s the decision you must make? And, is there any help in making it?

Decisions! And, More Decisions!

Here are a few things that might help.

1. Stop asking “What SHOULD I do?” That’s the advice a team of Harvard Business School professors offer. Asking “What COULD I do?” rather than “What SHOULD I do?” can often lead you to a better, more decisive answer. Asking what you should do tacitly implies there is a wrong decision and a right decision inside the decision you must make when, in fact, either decision might just be fine.

2. Asking “What COULD I do?” taps the creative side of you. Meditate on this question. Jot down all the possibilities that come to your mind. Do not judge any of the options, at least at first. Just write them down or type them into your notes on an electronic device. As other options come to you over the weekend, make note of those, too. If there is someone with you over the holiday weekend whose advice and wisdom you respect, find a few moments to share with them your pressing decision and the options you are considering. If you have not thought of all the options, this trusted friend might actually help you see what you have not seen thus far.

3. Note what your heart is telling you. I’m a firm believer in following your heart…the gut instinct you have within. Your heart…instinct…is seldom wrong. What is it telling you? Yes, it is hard, if you’re not accustomed to listening to your inner GPS system. But my best advice to you is this: you must begin sometime learning how to listen to this inner voice. Trust it. Act on it. See what happens. This is about as close to the voice of God as you’ll ever likely hear. So, what have you got to lose? Trust the impulse within – it’s the Holy Spirit, for Christians. If you’re a Buddhist, and many of my readers are, it’s your Buddha nature. It CAN be trusted. You know this already, don’t you?

4. Now, once you have followed the suggestions above, you are ready to ask the question: “What WILL I do?” Once you have narrowed the options and listened to your heart, you will know what you must do. Now, you must do it. Make the decision. Act on it and do not look back. When you follow these suggestions, you will seldom regret the decision you make and actions you take.

One wise soul put it like this: “You don’t usually regret the things you do; it’s the things you didn’t do that you regret.”

Go for it, my friend. Let me know how this has helped you. And, know that, over the holiday weekend, I’ll be thinking about all of those across this land who have…like you…important decisions to make.

Write me at Steve@SteveMcSwain.com. Friend me at Facebook.com/DrSteveMcSwainPublicFigure. Follow me on Twitter. I’d like to be your friend. Go to SteveMcSwain.com for my books and unity pendants. Thank you much, too.