Do you often find yourself unable to decide anything? It can be literally anything — complex work-related decisions like what course of action you should take to tackle a difficult project, to an extremely simple thing like deciding where and what to eat for dinner. It can be a really exhausting thing to deal with — mostly for you, but also for the people around you too.
When you’re indecisive, people will see you as a person who is unable to make decisions. In the workplace, if your peers or boss sees this, it could impact the way they think about you. You could come off as unreliable and unable to think on your feet, thus potentially hampering your growth at your company. In personal relationships, your family, friends, or significant other could also see you as someone who can never make up their mind due to your indecisiveness.
Why Should You Learn To Be Decisive?
No one is born to be decisive. It’s something you can pick up in life, either by seeing how the people around you do it or by reading about it and practising. It may not seem like a big deal at first, but there are certain advantages and merits to be had if you’re able to think quickly on your feet and make good decisions.
Save More Time And Resources
How long do you usually take to decide on something? Indecisive people tend to take a lot longer to choose an option, which just wastes valuable time. The reason indecisive people take a long while comes down to overthinking things. These people like to weigh every option, every possibility, and every outcome that can happen from their choice. They think things through clearly and choose what they believe to be the best option, which can be a good thing — but at the cost of spending more precious time and even resources to consider their choices thoroughly.
Show Others That You Can Lead
When you’re able to think quickly and make good decisions, it shows that you are someone who is reliable. People will start to have the impression that you can be counted on to make decisive calls, and they will start to turn to you when there are tough choices to be made. This is especially beneficial for career-driven individuals, as decisiveness is a highly rated skill that many employers value in employees. Being able to think quick on your feet and make smart decisions is also a key skill all managers and leaders should possess.
Make Better Decisions
Making quick decisions is not all that you should learn. The ability to make better decisions is also an invaluable one — it’s something that will keep you from making poor or bad decisions. For example, if you had to choose between lounging on the couch and watching Netflix or going for a run after work, which would you pick? From a general point of view, choosing the run would be a better choice as you’re exercising to burn fat instead of lying on the couch and getting fat.
How To Be More Decisive
So now that you’ve seen why it can be important to be decisive, you might be wondering how you can change yourself to be that way. Learning how to be more decisive is not an easy task, but with these tips, you will have an easier time and a clearer idea of what you need to do to get where you want to be.
Stop Overthinking
When you’re constantly agonizing over every option and start thinking of situations that could happen from your choice, you’re likely to be overthinking things. Overthinking things is not ideal, as you’re already worrying about things that might happen, even though they have not happened at all yet — you’re basically assuming things will play out according to the worst case scenario. Unless you’re a psychic who can predict the future, no one knows what the future holds. Make your decision based on the cold, hard facts in front of you, and don’t waste time imagining hypothetical situations that might not even happen.
Practice Makes Perfect
If you know you’re indecisive, that’s a good start. In general, when you’re aware of a problem or issue instead of denying it exists, you’re more likely to take action against it. Similarly, if you know you’re being indecisive and recognize it, you can take steps that can help to change your habits. You can do this by practising how to make smaller decisions — whether you should go out tonight, what movie to watch, or even what to get for dinner. Give yourself a maximum of 30 seconds to decide on these things, then follow through on whatever you decide. Repeat this as much as possible, and it will train your brain to think through things more quickly.