Decision Making Made Clear and Easy.

Has making a decision ever given you even more confusion? Has it left you feeling despondent or disappointed? Have you ever found yourself stuck on the wheels of procrastination whilst trying to make a decision?

In order to eliminate confusion, disappointment and procrastination, we need to become aware that there are fundamentally two kinds of decisions.

1. Macro Decisions (made slowly)
2. Micro Decisions (made quickly)

Macro decisions are the big picture decisions which can impact our life situation significantly. These can  be (not always) reasonably complex and may involve others or perhaps consulting someone else who may or may not be impacted by the decision. Micro decisions are like the sub decisions related to the macro big picture decision. Once macro is clear all micro decisions happen quickly, and this is where we find clarity, great energy and momentum.

Great! So how does all this translate to real everyday life? I’m glad you asked 😊. Earlier this year my wife Silvana and I, began seriously discussing moving away from our home of 22 years and moving 2000km north to Queensland, here in Australia. We thought it would be a great idea to spend sometime in two parts that took our interests. Our first stop was the Gold Coast, to check out the hinterland property landscape.

We had two and a half days and we had about 6 properties to look at. By the time we finished seeing them all it was mid afternoon Saturday and we were exhausted, dazed and confused. There was one particular home we liked very much, I even went through the trouble of filling in an expression of interest form with an offer.

Sunday morning tiredness, dazed and confused state turned to overwhelm as we grappled the situation. Then in a heart beat it dawned on me like a ton of bricks. We were trying to make a micro decision without making a macro decision first!! In other words we were trying to decide on a house (we loved) before even deciding on which area (macro) we wanted to live in!!

This may be obvious from the grandstand , but went you are on the field playing the game it can be easy to loose sight of the big picture! That’s when we pressed the pause button on our mind. We decided that in a few weeks we would travel to the Sunshine Coast, but we wouldn’t look at property (micro), we would instead focus on area (macro).

It was so wonderful because we were able to eliminate lots of areas and now we are have eyes only for a particular part of the Sunshine Coast. Macro decision was made. It may seem it was made quickly, but please remember that this decision has been months in the making.

We felt so good , and so right now with our clarity of area. When we move there (rent) we can then focus on buying our right home in that area. When we find the home the decision will be made in a heartbeat. Decisions on schools for our sons have been made already (micro) because the macro decision has already been made (area).

Most people get caught up in the micro decision making before the macro has been made. It’s like trying to work out which course you want to do in coaching, before deciding if you even want to become a coach. Once the macro has been made (eg which area do we want live in, or do we want to become a coach)the micro decisions are made with clarity of context and normally these are made a lot quicker.

Do it the other way around and you will become stuck in and on the wheels of procrastination. Thank you for reading😊