Life tips

Make Better Decisions: 7 Steps

BY Geoffrey James

Decision-making is a skill which requires constant practice.

Although everyone knows that success results from good decisions, few people bother to hone their decision-making skills. The following step-by-step process will help you make decisions like a champ:

1. Set a deadline.

The opposite of decision-making is indecision. Indecision drags things out until the world does the deciding for you. Therefore, every important decision must have a deadline, a specific time when you WILL make the decision.

2. Discover the knowns.

Informed decisions are better than shooting from the hip, so finding facts is helpful. However, when it comes to researching a decision, there's a point of diminishing returns. When you start obsessing on minor details, it's time stop fact-finding.

3. Gather relevant inputs.

If your decision requires other people to execute that decision, you MUST get their perspective prior to making the decision. If you skip this step, those people will not "own" the decision and therefore not execute it well.

4. Decide.

The root of the word "decide" is the Latin word for "cut off." A decision cuts off the debate and cuts off the possibility of pursuing some other course of action. Once you've decided, you MUST now move to executing it, or it's not a real decision.

5. Explain your reasoning.

If other people have provided their perspective (in Step 3) and are now expected to execute the decision, they are more likely to execute well if you explain why you made that decision rather than pursue other options.

6. Never second guess.

Once you've made a decision, you must not question it, or seriously listen to other people question it, until you've obtained the results of executing that decision. Doing so pollutes the execution of the decision with indecision, thereby creating inaction.

7. Observe the results.

It's only after you (and your team, if they're involved) have made an honest and focused attempt to execute the decision that you stand back and observe the results. If the results are as expected, congratulations! If not, continue to step 8.

8. Adjust the decision.

Bullheadedness makes you just as helpless as indecision but with a lot more effort. Therefore, if you're not getting the results you expect, go back to Step 1. Use the knowledge you've gained to hone or change your decision.

9 Daily Habits That Will Make You Happier

BY Geoffrey James

These minor changes in your daily routine will make a major difference in your life and career.

Happiness is the only true measure of personal success. Making other people happy is the highest expression of success, but it's almost impossible to make others happy if you're not happy yourself.

With that in mind, here are nine small changes that you can make to your daily routine that, if you're like most people, will immediately increase the amount of happiness in your life:

1. Start each day with expectation.

If there's any big truth about life, it's that it usually lives up to (or down to) your expectations. Therefore, when you rise from bed, make your first thought: "something wonderful is going to happen today." Guess what? You're probably right.

2. Take time to plan and prioritize.

The most common source of stress is the perception that you've got too much work to do. Rather than obsess about it, pick one thing that, if you get it done today, will move you closer to your highest goal and purpose in life. Then do that first.

3. Give a gift to everyone you meet.

I'm not talking about a formal, wrapped-up present. Your gift can be your smile, a word of thanks or encouragement, a gesture of politeness, even a friendly nod. And never pass beggars without leaving them something. Peace of mind is worth the spare change.

4. Deflect partisan conversations.

Arguments about politics and religion never have a "right" answer but they definitely get people all riled up over things they can't control. When such topics surface, bow out by saying something like: "Thinking about that stuff makes my head hurt."

5. Assume people have good intentions.

Since you can't read minds, you don't really know the "why" behind the "what" that people do. Imputing evil motives to other people's weird behaviors adds extra misery to life, while assuming good intentions leaves you open to reconciliation.

6. Eat high quality food slowly.

Sometimes we can't avoid scarfing something quick to keep us up and running. Even so, at least once a day try to eat something really delicious, like a small chunk of fine cheese or an imported chocolate. Focus on it; taste it; savor it.

7. Let go of your results.

The big enemy of happiness is worry, which comes from focusing on events that are outside your control. Once you've taken action, there's usually nothing more you can do. Focus on the job at hand rather than some weird fantasy of what might happen.

8. Turn off "background" TV.

Many households leave their TVs on as "background noise" while they're doing other things. The entire point of broadcast TV is to make you dissatisfied with your life so that you'll buy more stuff. Why subliminally program yourself to be a mindless consumer?

9. End each day with gratitude.

Just before you go to bed, write down at least one wonderful thing that happened. It might be something as small as a making a child laugh or something as huge as a million dollar deal. Whatever it is, be grateful for that day because it will never come again.