How to make better decisions

Let's talk about making better decisions.

Welcome to the Self-Performance-Strategies (S-P-S) Newsletter

The Quick Strategy:

"In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing."

- Theodore Roosevelt

The 2nd Strategy:

You find it hard to make decisions, and you become overwhelmed often.

It's because you have no clear vision or direction in life.

Because of this, you make a lot of last-minute moves.

You put off making decisions because you are never sure it is the right thing to do.

You are then put under time or peer pressure to make your mind up.

Often ending up in frustrating situations that don't fit your vague goals.

Sound familiar?

Making last-minute decisions or having others make decisions for you means you constantly work on short-term goals.

Frustratingly, nothing ever connects to a longer-term vision for your life.

It's hard to stack wins, create skills, and build momentum.

The question you need to start with is:

What does success look like to you?

It is one of life's most critical questions.

Asking yourself what you want your days, weeks, months, and business to look like.

When you know what you want, making decisions is 100% easier.

It removes the options that don't align with you and allows you to build bridges to what works for you.

When you know what you want, you can see quickly what opportunities take you away from your goals and which ones build bridges toward them.

Not making decisions, putting them off or rushing into decisions takes you away from your goals.

But there is good news.

As you align your actions with your goals, you will make decisions faster and increase your momentum.

You will see what projects, people, and places have slowed you down.

You remove the dumb sh*t from your life that was taking you away from your goals.

You increase your rate of results and take leaps forward.

When you have specific goals for your life and business, the quality of your decisions improves.

All leaps forward come from improving the quality of your work.

You raise your standards when you commit to specific goals.

It makes life easier.

Without goals, you have no decision filter.

Those with clear goals find it easier to move toward their targets.

It makes sense, but few people take the time to build specific goals.

Without specific goals, you will struggle to make key decisions in business and life.

Remember, specific goals make decisions easier.

The 3rd Strategy:

How to make better decisions by making your life less complex.

You love to make things complicated, and it's not your fault.

Welcome to the complexity bias.

You are the cause of most of your complicated issues in life.

When faced with two competing options, you are more likely to choose the more complex option, even if a simple choice is available.

To beat it, you 1st need to understand why you do it.

Complexity bias is our tendency to look at something easy to understand and then see it as having many difficult parts, or we may view it as more complex while in a confused or stressed state.

Let's look at three examples.

1. Create a complex problem:

You say you can't focus; you may begin self-diagnosing a medical issue, ADHD, or something similar.

But you drink coffee all day, watch hours of short clips on social media and sleep less than 5 hrs.

You created a complex medical issue instead of looking for simple solutions in your daily lifestyle.

2. Overcook habits:

Let's say you create a detailed new routine based on some billionaires.

You went from no morning routine to having 10 steps and getting up 2 hours earlier.

You might do it for a few days, but there are so many moving parts that you soon drop it.

3. Not seeing simple solutions:

Think about any bureaucracy: A new issue may result in multiple meetings, projects, and hiring consultants.

Then, after all that work, you return to a common-sense solution like hiring a new person or simply adapting an existing process.

Simple>>>>complex

If you are honest, you have overcomplicated life many times.

You've created a new habit with 10 parts or ignored simple solutions to perceived BIG problems.

You need to stop hiding behind complexity because you struggle to make progress in life.

How do we stop overcomplicating everything?

Well, with 2 simple steps:

1st. Process mapping.

2nd. Keep it simple.

It's not that hard if you are willing to take a step back and do some planning.

Process mapping:

A simple idea from Project Management.

Map out each step of the process, habit, or issue clearly and in detail.

You now have a visual tool that describes the flow of your work.

You will see the complete picture of where the issues are and can adapt quickly.

Keep it simple:

When you come up with ideas, stop and ask, "can I make this easier?"

A simple answer is easier to implement, and you get feedback much faster.

The more steps, the harder it is to pinpoint issues, find solutions, and make long-term changes stick.

The more moving parts, the more likely it won't work.

Look for this from leaders, gurus, and consultants.

They don't know the answers to your problem if they use big words, have complex plans and can't describe them in simple terms.

Don't be fooled by complexity.

Your goal is to make better daily decisions and eliminate unnecessary complexity.

Think Einstein, Jobs, and even Musk.

They are masters at sifting the essential from the non-essential.

You can train yourself to do the same by taking a step back, observing, and creating simple solutions.

There is always an easier way.

I hope you all have a fantastic week. 

Big love.

Make it a great one,

Stephen