photo credit: Binder Of Daemons

As I’m sure you’re getting to know now, from time to time on a Friday, we feature guest posts from really cool people who are changing the world, one step at a time.  One such person is Ben Lumley, our regular ‘last Friday of the month’. In case you don’t know Ben he is a Motivational Speaker and Trainer from the UK who writes about personal development at 6aliens.com. Why not connect with him on Twitter or if you liked this article then why not subscribe to his

Ben is today’s Friday Follow #FF. Over to you Ben:

Decision making is a key part for any success venture. If you’re trying to move quickly on an opportunity you need to make an effective decision so that you can move forward and start building momentum. Similarly, if you’re trying to decide of a major aspect of your life or business then you want that decision to be the right one at that moment in time.

An effective decision, whether come to quickly or after a lot mulling over, is one that is definite. True decisions allow you to move forward confidently with out any need to worry later about whether it was the right thing to do.

Decision comes from the Latin word meaning to cut. Effective decisions cut off all other possibilities letting you and your business to take the next step necessary to confidently produce results in the future. When you make an effective decision you remove all of the other options because you have decided that this is the course of action you will take and there is no going back.

To make effective decisions can often be quite daunting, which is why often people take a long time over then that, frankly, most of the time isn’t necessary. To help you make better and more confident decisions you always need to consider P.I.E.

Past

One of the first things you need to do when making an effective decision is to consider the past. What previous experiences have you or your business had in this area that might either 1) have a positive influence on the decision or 2) cloud the process all together? When have you been in situations like this and not made this decision? How many times have you made this decision before and you’ve not produced the desired result?

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying you should live and be controlled by your past. What I am saying is that success leaves clues. If you look back over the past you’ll find that, if you’re completely transparent, patterns will emerge of when you made a decision, took a deliberate course of action and you produced a certain result. That is useful stuff to help you make an effective decisions in the future.

Information

One of the problems we have as individuals sometimes is that we make ill-informed decisions. We react to a situations and without taking the time to ensure we have all the fact we rush into a choice that ultimately back fires on us.

If you need to make an effective decision today make sure you have enough information to make it. Notice I didn’t say “all” I said “enough”. Something we’re all really bad at sometimes is getting too bogged down in details and so we miss out on opportunities. To make an effective decision some times we don’t need every chapter and verse in order to choose. Don’t hide behind all the information you can find so that you don’t need to take any action. Get what you need and then move on.

Emotion

Emotions play a huge part in decision making. Have you ever made a rash decision about something because at the time you felt angry or frustrated? Have you ever then regretted that decision once you’d calmed down?

It’s critical that we understand the emotions we feel greatly effect our decision making skills. Whenever we’re in a peak state that’s negative we need to be very careful about the choices we then make. If there’s a decision to be made don’t do it from a position of frustration, anger or fear. Take a moment to get in the right mental state to make an sensible and informed choice.

Anyone fancy some PIE?