How to make decisions during uncertain times

 

Uncertainty makes your road foggy. When the world seems unstable, every option comes with a question mark, a doubt, a… something is wrong… It is as if you are driving, you look ahead, but the road keeps shifting.

No choice feels completely right. I know, it’s easy to freeze and to overthink, imagining every worst-case scenario as the only possibility. But here’s the thing - not deciding is also a decision and often, it’s the one that costs the most…

• So, start by setting clear criteria: What matters most right now? What can you compromise? What is non-negotiable?
• A few solid guidelines will keep you anchored when emotions try to take over and use logic. Your logic… Check the facts, weigh the risks, compare options… But don’t let analysis become a cage; analyze and move forward with the decision.
• And be careful with another potential prison… Your past experiences are useful - they’ve shaped your instincts, after all, and you have been able to survive and reach to this point. But remember, the past is a reference; don’t reject a new path just because it doesn’t look like the old one.
• Be a visionary: imagine where you want to be, beyond where you are. At the same time, be practical if things are not going well - a flexible balanced plan is better than a perfect one that will never be brought to reality.
• And here’s a crucial piece for a decision, many people forget: a journey to your inner world. When you connect to yourself, decisions stop feeling like a gamble. Your intuition turns into a compass and meditation becomes a personal recharger. To make a better decision, trust yourself and just sit quietly, meditate...
• Related to the former point, remember: a clean mind sees more paths than a crowded one and sometimes, the next step reveals itself only in its stillness.

These are uncertain times. Your best decision maybe won’t be the smartest or the safest, so make a decision by aligning mind, heart and soul.

In this way, you will move forward, even when the road is not yet clear.

Recreating a map to navigate our world: the importance of patterns

Should I go right or left? I look around and I see on the right a beautiful stone-laid path, flowers from both sides and it is a little steep, but the left path is muddy, the plants are wild and it looks quite dark.

No need to think there! Of course, the right path is…

 

That’s how we navigate our lives: turning left, right or center, staying for a while at some place or setting goals and move on. We find a job, a new friend, we reconnect with an old friend, we lose our job, we got a health problem, etc.

Sometimes the path will be idyllic, other times will be muddy. So, which one is the ideal for my life?

There are basically three ways to deal with that…

Intuition will be preferred by some people. They will just think where do I go and they will feel which way is the best for them.

Logic will be the favorite path for other people. They will see the muddy path and, of course, will chose the next one.

But both ways have big flaws. Intuition is often considered a manifestation of the unconscious mind, that is, things that have been picked, but not prioritized by the conscious mind, come up in the form of an intuitive thought. It may work, it may not work, it all depends on whatever has been picked. Logic will be restricted by the normal logic restrains of AND/OR, TRUE/FALSE, HYPOTHESIS/THEORY, and there are things that go beyond all of that. Maybe the muddy path is the right one…

So, there is a third way which I would like to explore with you: patterns.

Wait, what? I know people don’t talk about patterns nowadays, but they should be doing as we are living surrounded by patterns and we are letting them to lead us in our decisions. That is, patterns are drawing the map of our lives. Here are a few examples:

I follow my mother’s options in life in terms of jobs, relationships, etc.

I follow what my neighbors do during week-ends.

Even though I am retired, I still do shopping as if I was working, that is, on Saturdays, instead of a sale Tuesday.

I watch movies and TV series episodes which are basically equal, because those are the patterns…

It is bad… or it can be good too.

I follow my mother’s options on her courage and honesty, values that are transcendental.

I follow the specialties of my neighbors, appreciating they are around me and the example they set for me and my family.

As I am retired, I do as many retired people do: I volunteer. I help people with whatever energy and time I have.

I watch things that educate me or improve a bad day, because those are the patterns…

This is the third way to create your map, just use what is available, but use it in a good way, in a positive way. It will be easier to draw that map and it will give benefit to everyone who follows it, not only you.

The sweetness of making good decisions

Life has different flavors and fragrances and in terms of decisions, sometimes they leave us with a sweet taste, other times they are a very bitter experience.

How to make the best of the decision-making process? First, let’s understand how it works…

First of all, you need a situation about which you are going to take a decision: It can be a marriage, a new job or just your hair-cut. In any case, you start your process by having different options.

The decision-making process has three main aspects that impact your choices:

1. Past experiences. They are usually definitive about decisions; that is, you will always try to repeat or avoid whatever you have experienced. That can be good or bad, according to the next aspect.
2. Logic. It has an importance in terms of filtering past experiences or understanding them and adapting them to the new context. The more logical someone is the better will be decisions related to fixed or predictable situations and circumstances. Of course, the next aspect will give the final say…
3. Soft side. We all rely on a soft side we all have, which can be a personality trace or the influence of culture, moment and period of time. Intuition or whatever you call this soft side will take whatever logic said and will try to validate or deny it, according to feelings and emotions.

To prevent undesirable consequences, you could add two other aspects or layers to the decision-making process: creativity and spirituality. By using a few techniques, like a brainstorming or a variation, you may challenge your assumptions and find out about other possibilities.

If you go into your own self using meditation or yoga, you may see things really different. That practice is particularly good in decisions which impact will last longer, like the change of a job or something related to your health.

A last thing to remember: after taking a decision, there is no way back. After all, even though you can go back somehow, it is another decision…

No? Yes? Maybe?

Decision is quite complicated nowadays as options are unlimited.

How to help people to make better decisions? These are some tips so that you can make your decisions with less or no doubts:

1. Get in touch with both: your logical side and your soft side, which can be intuition, creativity or spirituality.
2. Practice with your logical side doing brain exercises. At least, solve some SUDOKU...
3. Practice your soft side according to the type. If it is intuition, go for a walk and let your feet follow your thoughts; if it is creativity, go into creative problems and solutions, and if it is spirituality, pray or meditate.
4. Decisions are not unidimensional, so it is important to use both sides to make a decision. Let your head and heart talk on the matter.
5. After making a decision in your mind, implement it. Don't procrastinate.
6. After implementing, check the results and how you feel.
7. Do a self-coaching: congratulate yourself for the success and understand any mistake or anything that could be done better.
8. Again, get in touch with both sides...