Personal Development: Make Effective Decisions Quickly

Are you able to make decisions quickly? It is essential if you are in the medical profession, in the armed forces or in a host of other roles. Learning to make fast decision can be difficult, but with practice it certainly can be done. Certainly making decision too quickly can backfire, however, it doesn’t mean that you can’t learn from your mistakes. You will still be able to make future decisions fast and effectively.

Study Your Past Decisions

One way to make better decisions going forward is to discover why you made certain decisions in the past. Simply reflecting on your decision making process is a good first step. Of course, decisions will vary from one person to the next, and that’s okay!

Maybe you have challenges with decisions because you keep changing your mind. While thinking through the various possibilities, you simply get stuck. Once you finally settle on something, you question the validity of your decision. Or perhaps you let your fears make your decisions for you.

Whatever your reasons are, once you understand why you have made the decisions you have, you can go to work on counteracting it moving forward.

Getting Over Fears

There are many fears that can play a role decision making. You might be afraid because you think you could fail. You could be afraid of having to take responsibility for consequences. You also could be afraid because you have far too many options to consider.

If you’re afraid of failing, it’s a feeling that almost everyone has encountered at some time in their life. In fact, the reality is that you very well may fail at certain things in life. It truly is inevitable! Even the most successful people have experienced some failures on their way to success.

Even so, you cannot let this fear rule your life. Rather than being afraid of failure, decide what you would do if you did fail. Hopefully, you will decide to pick yourself up and learn from your mistakes. Regardless of what your fear might be, you must concentrate on facing it; this is the best way to speed up your ability to make quick, effective decisions.

Go With Your Gut

When you’re faced with too many options or too many things racing through your head, it can help to go with your gut. Your gut instinct is generally right and you get the benefit of a quick decision.

Ensure that you’re calm and well focused when you’re going with your gut instinct. That way, you feel confident that you’re going with your true feelings and rather than something that’s influenced by outside sources.

Speeding Up The Process

If you are having trouble making the right decisions, give yourself more time. Take time to weigh your options and go with a decision whole-heartedly. Of course you will have to be ready to take responsibility for your actions, even knowing that everything might not go exactly according to plan.

Once you strengthen your overall decision making skills, it is then easier to focus on making your decisions faster. With practice, you may notice that you don’t have to change much to make quicker decisions because practice alone will help out.

Learn from Mistakes and Move Forward

At the end of the day, go over your decisions again. Were your decisions right – were you successful? If not, can you identify the reasons why? Keep a journal. This will help you remember which methods work the best for you. Soon enough, you will find yourself making better decisions quicker than ever.

Patricia Erickson is a career management expert and personal development enthusiast. She recently wrote a new book entitled Career Management Guide: A Practical Approach To Career Change In Any Economy.

Patricia partners with career changers and job seekers to design strategies that transform careers. Patricia has helped clients to navigate toward their true career aspirations as well as finding purpose and personal fulfillment.