4 Ideas to Make Better Decisions

Negative emotions are often the culprit for making bad decisions, as well as being uninformed, giving in to pressure to conform to others, or just taking the easy route to not rock the boat.Whatever the case may be, making bad decisions could cost you a lot in the long run, whether that's relationship, work, or personal success. Let's look at four ways you can make better life decisions for yourself.

Caving into Other's Desires
We tend to make poor decisions when we're doing it for other people, and not ourselves. Sometimes it's truly for others; sometimes it's so we don't upset them.
If it's the latter, take a look and see just how much your decision making process is dictated by others. When you make decisions for others, you aren't doing it for yourself, and you're setting yourself up for bad decision making.

Not Listening to Your Gut
When you don't listen to your gut, or to your conscience, you fall victim to it. When we don't tune into our emotions about a particular situation, as well as our logic, we short ourselves the full range of information available to us to make the best, most well informed decisions we can. If there's fear, anxiety or other negative emotions, don't push them away; let them come up and explore them before you make a decision. Let them also guide your decision making process. I know, it seems counter intuitive, but it actually works. If your emotions could speak, what would they say about making the decision for you?

Research, Research, ResearchI'm gonna say now, that researching is not going to help decisions about romantic relationships or marriage, because that's quite different, but if you generally combine logic with emotional awareness, you make the best decisions you can.Ask others for their help or advice (or omit other's advice if need be). Sit with the decision for a while, and don't react immediately. Research and get your facts, to support your emotion, on a topic, whether that's house hunting, looking for another job, or car buying. Use logic in addition to emotions, not instead of them, to completely inform your decision.

Trust Yourself, and Tune Your Critic OutIf you learn to trust yourself, you'll make better decisions that are right for you. They may not be what works for the next guy, but they'll work for you. Align your decisions with your values, and the decisions will come out more in your favor. Quiet down the self-critic, or the critical voice inside your head that shoots you down and is an idea-negator. Develop the relationship with yourself more, and you'll be happier with the decisions you make overall. If you’re interested in learning more about the Men’s counseling , or if counseling might be right for you, please feel free to contact me directly or visit our Men’s counseling page for detail.