You know you have to make a big decision. You know it is important. But we are often caught between making decisions with our head or with our hearts. The truth is, you are likely to make a better decision if you use a combination of the two. Too often, our decisions are based on emotions. Our Chicago counselor offers five tips to help you make better decisions.
- Remove yourself from the situation. This is not easy. But if you think about the situation as if it was someone else, you are more likely to base the decision off of the important aspects rather than involving emotions. Wise reasoning includes thinking of others’ perspectives, thinking about the situation in a different way, and thinking about compromises to the situation.
- Consider all your options. There are often aspects that you haven’t thought of. Do a little brainstorming to make sure you have looked at the problem from all perspectives. What haven’t you thought of? Make you need an affordable psychologist to help you look at other angles.
- Sleep on it. Research has shown that we make better decisions when we use our unconscious mind as well as our conscious mind. Literally, sleep on it. Taking time to let you brain work things out also keep you from making a decision too hastily.
- Make a list. Yes, it is a bit cliché’ but a list of pros and cons can really be helpful. When you put it on papers, you can easily see if one side is outweighing the other.
- Know your emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence is the ability to identify and manage your emotions as well as emotions of others. Being able to keep your emotions in check and know how your react to certain situations will help keep you from letting emotions from influencing decisions.
When you combine all these tips, you will know you are making every effort to make a good decision based on facts and needs instead of reacting to emotion.
If you need further help in the Chicago and the surrounding area (Des Plaines, Arlington Heights, Schaumburg, Barrington, Hinsdale, Skokie, Lincolnwood, Park Ridge, and Wilmette), contact Dr. Parisi.