In our Empower Mentoring clubroom today on Clubhouse we talked about how we can make decisions that are meaningful and important to us and influence meaningful change in our lives.
We make a whole lot of decisions every day, some small and habitual, some large and life changing. It’s the bigger decisions that many of us struggle with mainly because they take time, they require a whole lot of our energy, and they can be an emotional process.
People in the group shared their perspectives and stories on how they have overcome obstacles and roadblocks to making the big decisions, both internally and externally driven. I loved your comment Lisa G about how we can get really stuck and unable to move forward because we are constantly fearing what might happen, as you said, ‘living in future fear’.
Which was a great segue to talking about how we can help ourselves take that step forward and make the decision made on need and/or desire. Sometimes it helps to have a little support along the way, from a mentor, a trusted colleague, a friend.
Sometimes there are tools we can use to help us get clear on the goal or outcome we want to achieve – and have decided this is important for us – and plot the steps to get there. We are going to explore these next week in the Empower Mentoring clubroom, and of course I will post here to share these tools with you.
The 3 Cs of Decision-making
You can use this simple model to reflect on and develop your awareness and skills in how you make those bigger decisions and achieve the outcomes you want. Alongside each ‘C’ are some questions you can ask yourself to work through the cycle and, as the model suggests, take action:
Conscious Awareness: “What has triggered this decision?” “Why is this decision important?”
Conscious Choice: “What are my options?” “What are the likely consequences of each option?”
Conscious Action: “What steps will I take to carry out my decision?” “What will I do to overcome any barriers to following through on my decision?”
How do you make decisions that create meaningful change in your life? What resources, both internally and externally, can you draw on to support you in making your bigger decisions?
