Change hits―sometimes suddenly and without warning. Things become disrupted. When this happens, what are the “must-take decisions,” and which should pivot towards the “must-have outcomes” connected to the developments and your priorities?
In any situation, a skill and tool that is available to you to work towards a relatively stable environment is your ability to decide and your choices. Decisions are important, and having good decision-making ability is a great asset.
You can only make effective decisions in areas that are within your control. Focus on that. When the unexpected happens, and you find yourself going down into the valley, into the pit of despair, and you are aware of possible decisions that have brought you to that situation, review your options and recalibrate.
Your next decisions could stop the descent and provide the steppingstones for your rebound and restoration to the path of your choice.
In any situation, it is up to you to make right choices and decisions; what you need to continue doing, stop, or start doing. Poor choices and decisions are life impeders and destroyers.
Our world is shifting and changing at a fast rate. The comfort people were used to, has been challenged. Foundations shaken, shattered, and requiring repair. Previously secured and assured persons are losing relevance with their old craft and becoming panicky. What worked well for decades, has lost effectiveness, leaving safety and the future threatened as life looks tougher.
Pulling back the curtain, the premises on which decisions were made, have been radically altered, with current and emerging circumstances requiring different ways of coping with new realities. Delays in readjusting carry high risks and are costly.
To succeed and thrive therefore requires quick adaptation and a flexible mindset. In this time and age, there’s hardly much that is cast in stones that survive for long. Effectively adjusting on the go has become the new mantra for an effective lifestyle and coping with the “fluid world.”
Decisions are vital, and responding appropriately in decision-making, is a critical factor for thriving in any season. Some decisions require a great deal of urgency. Others allow a more reasonable time frame to consider the available options for adoption. There is a place for proper consultation, as a part of making the right decisions. So, never assume you are alone; tap into all available resources to make decisions that are best suited to your situation. You can turn your awful situation into an eventual delight.
For your decisions to set you up to thrive sustainably, some fundamentals are necessary. Below are some building blocks as examples:
a. Being in touch with reality and with real-time knowledge, having awareness of critical developments in your environment and operating contexts, and how they impact you and your situation.
b. Being clear on what your decision objectives are, and your success indicators.
c. An assessment of your current, against your desired state, and establishing the gaps to close to attain and sustain success for you to thrive.
d. Adoption of an effective decision-making process, delivering outcomes to close your identified gaps.
e. Being realistic, pragmatic and flexible in your adaptation to reflect and integrate relevant inputs from the ever-changing landscape into your configuration and important considerations.
f. Carefully analysing the decision to make and undertaking the process to deliver the most effective outcome(s) suitable for your specific situation(s).
g. In the short, medium and long term, undertake a reiterative process of reviewing and updating your approach for appropriate and optimum outcomes of your decisions against the circumstances at any moment.
h. Others
Putting your specific circumstances into consideration and perspective, the bottom line is for you to be current and choose to make the decision that is sustainable―the one that serves you the most―in attaining your intended goal in the best possible and most effective way.
What is the most suitable and appropriate move for you in your situation?
What are you to move away from, and/or move towards, to appropriately meet your distinct and unique needs?
This is not necessarily about what works for everybody. There is thoroughness in sifting and integrating information and other inputs that are useful for your situation. When you base and craft your decisions on this consistent basis, you are building up a momentum that helps you live at your best, thrive and keep thriving. Overall, you live, reaping the good rewards of your well-thought-out decisions.
Opt for and embrace the disciplines of making effective decisions, instead of going with the quick fixes.
By Samson Umurhurhu
Extract from his Book –
Setting Yourself Up The Thrive With Decisions