4 Steps to Making Tough Decisions
Over the course of my tenure as Founder and CEO at PQE Group, I have faced many challenges head-on, time and time again. Though no two challenges are exactly the same, I believe that each of them required me to make tough decisions, to weigh different options, and to choose the best possible solution for our company as well as its people.
Tough decisions are an inevitable part of the job if you choose to be a leader, and it’s vital for us to rise to the occasion in spite of the difficulties that come with this important responsibility. No matter what decisions that you are required to make in your life, they can often be tough to face, but there are concrete ways to overcome any hesitation and help move you along the right path to finding the best choice. There are four main steps that I always adhere to, and I hope that they also give you some sense of confidence in your own decision-making process.
Stay Calm
Maintaining an innate sense of inner peace and calm is perhaps the most important of these four steps, as all of your emotions are directly impacted by your thoughts. For me, no matter where I am in the decision-making process, I strive to always remain calm and collected while not getting carried away into patterns of negative thinking. Some methods that work well for me are connecting with nature and coming back into the present moment through the practice of meditation. The benefits of taking a walk or spending some time outside help guide me to reach decisions, and I find that my mind moves to a place of focus on the real problems and real answers at hand.
Take Your Time
In tandem with staying calm, I believe taking the time necessary to arrive at decisions to tough problems is crucial. You can’t force yourself to come up with the right solution without taking ample time to consider any and all possible choices. Only you will know when it is the right moment to make your decision, and placing limits and arbitrary deadlines on your thought process or creativity will only make the process harder in the long run. I recommend slowing down and honing your focus without constraints to really get at the heart of the problem and determine how you can solve it.
Listen to as Many People as Possible
Considering the thoughts and opinions of others is also just as important as paying attention to your own in the process of making tough decisions. You should strive to gather as many opinions as possible from those around you, including your mentors and peers. In the end, however, you must make the decision yourself. Gathering ideas from other people is important as you begin to craft your own decision, but ultimately you have to trust your own intuition. Still, listening to as many people as possible will help guide you along your own thought process and give even more fuel to your imagination.
Don’t Doubt Yourself
The last step might also be the most challenging, for many of us. When making tough decisions, it is essential that you strive to be braver than you feel. Each of us have a certain degree of confidence in ourselves, but in some situations, we are required to be even more confident and more brave than we usually are. We are called upon to rise to the occasion and face things head-on, and I believe that adopting this mindset is especially important to making some of the toughest decisions you will face, both personally and professionally.
If you stick to these four steps, I know that you can and will make the best possible choice when required to decide on something that’s challenging. In the past, when I have made decisions, I have found a degree of certainty in myself that renders me unstoppable. And when in doubt, I employ these four strategies to keep myself grounded. Each and every decision you make in life has consequences, and adhering to steps like these will help guide you on the right path to confidently make the best choices yourself.
