Decision-making can be a challenge, especially when experiencing feelings of worry or anxiety. Unfortunately, it’s also easy to lose sight of what you think in a world of watching others’ lives on social media, often getting caught in the trap of focusing on what you ‘should’ be doing instead of what you want or need to be doing. 

As a coach, I help people make decisions every day, not by telling them what to do but by helping them gain perspective on their own lives and what they need to be doing to reach their full potential. 

When you decide, no matter how big or small, it is like a weight lifted off your shoulders. That feeling of clarity and sense of control does wonders for our well-being.

Here are 4 coaching prompts to help you master decision making: 

Write down in a notebook or talk through your answers with a coach for best practice.

First, write down the decision you have been thinking about making. 

1. List what you think you should be doing v’s what you need and want to be doing. 
2. Weigh up the costs and benefits of change – do the costs of making the change feel worth the benefits? 
3. Consider and write down what you are unwilling to give up. 
4. Consider and write down, if you continue to stay the way you are and do nothing to change (not make a decision), what will your life be like in 6 months? 1 year? 5 years?

Allow yourself time to process these answers – you might not have the answers straight away. This pause is OK, be gentle with yourself. Take yourself somewhere to get some headspace, perhaps go for a walk without your phone, run without headphones, or go to the beach without a book. In time you will start to find the answers. I often find I need time to process after I’ve answered these questions to see if it’s what I want or not, see what works best for you.