Decision Making

When I was a child, I was eager to grow up and make my own decisions. As an adult, I thought hmmm… maybe being a child was easier because there were less responsibilities. As a child, responsibilities and decision-making was related to:

·       When to do homework?

·       What to wear?

·        When is a good time to ask for spending money to hang out with friends?

·       To get a job or not

As an adult, our responsibilities and decision-making is more involved and has the potential to be more impactful. Research states that adults make approximately 35,000 decisions in a day. That number is intense! Who would have imagined that we make that many decisions in one day? Well, when you think about it, we have some easy decisions to make, such as:

·       What to wear today?

·       What time to get up?

·       What to eat for breakfast?

Then we have some more difficult decisions to make. Some decisions are made based on your role.  As a mother, I have had to make decisions on the following:

·       Where to send my daughter to school?

·       What neighborhood to live in?

·       Can I afford private school?

·       Can I afford extracurricular activities?

·       What medical provider to use?

These are just a few decisions that I have had to make as a mother. These were not decisions that I was able to make in one day. These decisions required some additional thought. I had to 1st define the issue. Then I had to do some research. The research included gathering relevant information and listening to opinions of others. Once the research concluded, I had to analyze the facts, and identify the pros and cons. Depending on the decision to be made the first four steps could take a couple of hours or a couple of days. Once I completed the first four steps it was time to decide. After I made a decision, it was time to create a plan and execute.

Making decisions can be overwhelming and stressful and I have been there before. In an effort to decrease stress, I have created a decision-making worksheet for you to use when you have to make decisions that require some additional thought.