It's estimated that on average daily, we make around 35,000 conscious decisions. My first response to reading that number was one of disbelief, that does seem like an awful lot of decisions to consciously be making each day.
Don't you think?
But then I slowed down and gave it some thought. I'm currently writing this from my favourite Cafe in Trier, Suite Au Chocolat. The waitress has brought me a Coffee and I've observed a number of decisions that she has made, in the last few seconds alone.
She decided to: 1. Pick up my Coffee and place it on a tray. 2. Walk over to my table. 3. Smile at me. 4. Ask if I had ordered a Cafe Creme. 5. Command her right hand to pick the Coffee up. 6. Place it on the table in front of me. 7. Smile again. 8. Turn around. 9. Decide where next in the Cafe to go to.
All of these conscious decisions happened in just a few seconds. There were likely many more, smaller decisions, that I missed.
Anyway, now I'm sat here thinking that 35,000 conscious decisions could be accurate.
With so many decisions being made daily, it's no wonder that often we feel stuck when it comes to make a decision.
We tell ourselves:
I don't know what I want.
I don't know how to find out what I want.
I don't know why I don't know what it is that I want.
Did you know that when we say 'I don't know', our brains literally stop searching for answers? The part that searches for answers and solutions, literally shuts down. It believes the words that it's being programmed with.
So what can we do when we are feeling stuck and we don't know what we want?
Choose.
When we feel stuck, we forget we possess an incredible power:
The power of Choice.
If you think about it. Isn't not Choosing (being stuck) a choice? By choosing to not make a decision about something, we are choosing to stay exactly where we are. We are choosing to tell ourselves that we don't know.
Maybe, that voice inside your head has popped up and is saying 'That is all well and good, Will, of course I can choose but I don't know what is the best choice to make?
You couldn't possibly know that.
Whether a Choice is good or bad, whether it serves us or not, will only become clear after we have made a decision.
Steve Jobs stated it perfectly when he said
“You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever''.
When making a Decision- Listen to your Gut. Listen to your Heart. Listen to your Head. Assess your options. Limit your Decision making time. With some decisions there are endless possibilities to consider and it would take a lifetime to consider all the variables.
Be aware of your options. Then Choose.
Like I wrote in the title. Choose or Loose. Remember: The worst type of decision is the one that is never made.
When you really don't know.
Ask yourself:
What will I choose?
If you enjoyed this and want more inspiration & tools to think better, feel better, and live better - then here is what you can do right now...
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