Ever find yourself staring blankly at a menu, unable to choose between that dreamy cream-laden pasta or the healthier salad option, while your partner’s stomach growls like a disgruntled bear? Or maybe you’re stuck in an endless debate in your own head over whether your next family vacation should be a beach paradise or a mountain retreat. To make a decision can sometimes feel like beating your head against the wall. But it doesn’t have to be that way.
Welcome to the world of easier decision-making, where you can choose your next adventure or dinner spot without stress-induced headaches. Picture this: instead of endless back-and-forths and second-guessing, you’re confidently picking the perfect hotel for your family getaway or nailing down that birthday gift for your bestie. Sounds like a dream, right?
Today we’re diving into seven tips that will turn decision-making into a breeze and give you a framework for how to make better decisions. Whether you’re choosing between a tropical escape or a cozy cabin in the woods, or simply figuring out whether to go for the latte or cold brew, we’ve got you covered. So, let’s ditch the indecision and check out these 7 tips to help you make a decision, and stop overthinking.
Tips to Help You Make Decision
These seven tips will help you easily make minor decisions and also make tough decisions easier. Making the right decision might feel impossible to you but these tricks will help you become a pro decision maker and make the best decision for you.
Tip 1: Define Your Priorities
The first step to making easy decisions is knowing what truly matters to you and your family. We have a lot of outside influences…extended family, friends, co-workers, society, etc. And while people who know us are often well-meaning, we often give their opinions way too much weight. We worry about making the wrong decision and disappointing others and miss making the right choice for ourselves.
You don’t have to have the same priorities as your parents, siblings, best friend, or boss. So first thing, figure out your own priorities. Knowing your priorities helps you cut through the noise and focus on what is best for you and your family. Is everyone in your friend group taking their kids on extravagant Disney World vacations, and you and your family hate crowded theme parks but love camping on the beach? Maybe your parents frown on expensive meals, but you really want to enjoy a fancy anniversary dinner with your spouse.
Define your own priorities before you make a decision, so you’re not choosing others’ priorities by default. Always ask yourself, “Who is going to be most affected by your decision?”
Example: Knowing my priorities has been a struggle in the past. I’ve caught myself choosing what others would want instead of what was important to me over and over again. And then, ending up disappointed. When I was teaching school, I knew I had to make a change. As much as I loved my students and co-workers, I was completely burnt out and my own kids were suffering. I had to figure out my priorities stat and disappoint some people close to me in the process. To quit or change jobs is not a small decision, so knowing my priorities was a must.
Tip 2: Limit Your Options
Too many choices can be paralyzing. It’s the classic paradox of choice – the more options you have, the harder it is to decide. If you’ve ever taken my youngest daughter shopping, you’d know this is the honest-to-God truth. Decision paralysis is a real thing. So, set a limit on the number of possible choices you consider, so you can make a decision.
When planning a vacation, narrow it down to three destinations that meet your criteria and then quit looking at any other options. For dinner, pick two restaurants that offer the ambiance and cuisine you’re looking for, and then stop searching. By limiting your options, you make the decision-making process much simpler and less stressful.
Example: I could easily spend dayyyyys looking up restaurants for an anniversary or birthday dinner. In the past, I’ve read the reviews over and over and over. Sound familiar? It was exhausting and I’d second-guess every option. But last year I did it differently– I searched for about an hour and then made reservations at two restaurants in Dallas that looked really good. Then the day before, we canceled the one that didn’t sound as appetizing to us, and we ended up having an amazing dinner at the cutest spot in Plano.
Tip 3: Use a Decision-Making Framework
Sometimes, a little structure can make all the difference. Decision-making frameworks like pros and cons lists, decision matrices, or the Eisenhower Box can help you weigh your options more objectively.
We all have countless decisions to make each day. Some are low-stakes decisions, like not hitting the snooze button or brushing our teeth before we crawl into bed at night. Other decisions require more thought and attention, but it’s often hard to know which decisions require your precious time.
The Eisenhower Box, made famous by Stephen Covey in his book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, will help you sort through all your decisions and prioritize. The tool will help you clarify which decisions demand your attention now, which can be put off for another day, delegated to someone else, or wiped off completely.
Taking time for an intentional brainstorm session will set you in the right direction for making the “right” decisions and help you prioritize the important issues that require your urgent attention.
Example: When planning a vacation or any big event, there are tons of small decisions and a few important decisions to be made. Using an Eisenhower box helps me get clarity on what needs to happen now, later, passed off to someone else, or erased.
On our last trip, we did NOT do this well and 3 adults spent 30 minutes standing out in the heat after a long day of hiking with hangry kids reading restaurant reviews and trying to decide which restaurant to walk into to eat dinner. Insanity? I think so. If we’d used the Eisenhower Box before, we could have delegated this decision to one person ahead of time and saved a lot of energy and frustration.
Tip 4: Trust Your Gut
Never underestimate the power of your intuition. Sometimes, your gut feeling can guide you to the best decision more effectively than endless analysis. Not all decisions are obvious, rational decisions.
When you feel a strong pull toward a particular option, it’s often worth trusting that instinct. It can be especially helpful when your logical mind is caught up in overthinking every detail. It’s important to trust your intuition. It’s there for a reason and is key to helping you make a decision.
Example: When my gut said to sleep in and let the kids rest instead of waking everyone up trying to get to Disney World right when the gates opened, I listened, and thank goodness I did. We were still exhausted and ready to leave early by the evening, but that extra sleep made a difference in enjoying our day at the park.
Tip 5: Set a Time Limit
Nothing fuels indecision like an open-ended timeline. Do you ever spend too much time trying to make a single decision? Just me? Then set a deadline for making your decisions every time, whether it’s a few days for a vacation destination or thirty minutes for picking a restaurant.
Being able to make quick decisions is a skill, and takes practice. While at first it might take you 20 minutes to look over the menu and decide, with practice it might only take 5 minutes to make a decision on what to eat. Every time you practice, you’re making progress and becoming a better decision-maker.
Example: We recently booked a vacation in 15 minutes. I found cheap tickets to Chicago on Frontier. We knew it was in our budget, and we’d never been there before. So instead of looking at all the other destination options I was considering and all other flight sales, we booked it on the spot and called it a day.
Tip 6: Seek Advice
Sometimes, an outside perspective can shed new light on your options. Don’t hesitate to ask friends, family, or even Facebook groups or social media followers for their recommendations.
But make sure you’ve already limited your decisions to a couple of choices and you’re really solid in your own priorities before asking. If you haven’t learned how to trust your intuition and prioritize yourself, it’s a good idea to skip this step.
Example: My favorite place to do this is at a restaurant or bar. My husband and I usually are between a couple of menu options and love to ask the waiter or bartender their favorite choice. It helps make a decision so much easier and we’re almost always pleased with the choice.
Tip 7: Embrace Imperfection
No decision is ever perfect. Accepting this can take a lot of pressure off and make it easier to choose. The key is to make the best choice you can with the information you have, and then embrace it fully. Sometimes there’s no such thing as a right decision or even a bad decision. Take comfort in that and embrace the possible outcomes. Remind yourself that you did the best you could. You can always course-correct the next time.
Example: When we were first married, my husband and I drove down to Galveston on a Friday night, so we could wake up and spend the day at the beach before driving back home that evening. Being young and dumb, we didn’t check the weather before and it poured rain all day. We were wet and sandy and cold huddling under a little umbrella on the beach. Was it a perfect trip? By far. But was it crazy and memorable and worth it? You bet.
Wrapping Up: Don’t Let Decision Making Hold You Back
Making decisions doesn’t have to be a stressful ordeal. By defining your priorities, limiting your options, using decision-making frameworks, trusting your gut, setting time limits, seeking advice, and embracing imperfection, you can simplify the process and make a decision with confidence.
So next time you’re faced with picking a vacation spot or deciding on a birthday venue, remember these tips. You’ll be able to make easier, more informed decisions that lead to peace of mind, less frustration, and minimal decision fatigue.
