Thursday, January 06, 2005
Making Major Decisions
We make many decisions daily. The majority of those decisions we makewith very little effort or time. You could call them instinctive choices. Most of them are about minor things - like what to have for lunch, what tie to wear, or how to respond to a colleague's remark.
It's the major decisions that usually give us stress - like whether to accept a promotion and work in another country, whether to marry someone, or whether to have another child. These decisions are life-changing. And most of us struggle with them, fearing that a wrong choice may lead to much regret.
So how do we minimise the odds of making a so-called "wrong" choice?
Have faith in your abilities. The choices we make are to a great extentdependent on how much we believe we can achieve. If you have a limited vision of your success, your mind can only access options that correspond with that narrow view. So always believe that you can do better.
Be sure that you are making the decision for You, in accordance with your own desires, values, and beliefs. Don't make choices based on what you think other people want. Trying to reach someone else's goal or measure yourself against someone else's yardstick will only lead to frustration. This is unless of course when it concerns someone you love deeply? then, the decision might have to be based on what's best for that person.
Much distress comes from believing that your present condition is adirect result of a folly in the past and that your situation will never improve. But life is like an adventure race - until you reach the end,you can never be sure where your next decision will lead you. And you can never be sure how things will turn out. Life reveals itself step-by-step. The book doesn't end here.
And have the courage to implement your decision. Very often, the choices we make don't lead to the desired outcomes because we lacked the gumption to run with them wholeheartedly. For example, we could've married someone only to give up on the relationship at the first hint of trouble. Not understanding, of course, that the marriage could have worked out very well, if only we had the determination to refine and develop it. So have faith in your choices and live without regret.
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A Slice of Life - Produced and presented by Eugene Loh
Host of AM NewsTalk with Michelle Martin, weekdays 6am to 10am
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