Some posts on this blog contain affiliate links. If you click them, I may earn a small commission. It does not cost you anything extra, but this commission helps cover the cost of running this website.
Do you ever have those hard decisions that you need to make, but just don't know what to do, let alone how to get through the decision making process. Yeah me too. Andy and I have been through quite a bit of business continuing education that has helped us. We use this process a lot. It could also be helpful for any other non-business type of decisions as well.
I'm not going to tell you what you should do about whatever scenario you're struggling with, but I will give you a list of questions that have helped me (and us) work through different options.
What is your intention? What am I hoping to get/have happen?
What is your "why"?
Wouldn't it be cool if.....?
Wouldn't my life/business/whatever be amazing if....?
What's the best case scenario? How would this affect my life?
What's the worst that could happen? What would I do in this case?
What if everything turns out perfectly and I don't love the result? How would I handle it?
What is holding you back or getting in your way?
What do you have to do to get there? Resources? Education? Research? Mindset?
What might get in your way? What will you do about it?
What will show you that you're making progress?
What is the biggest obstacle that you're facing?
Where might you be sabotaging yourself?
What could you do right now (one baby step) that would get you started?
Who could help you with this goal/project?
How can you use the philosophy of progress over perfection?
In addition to asking myself and answering these questions, here's another exercise that I like to do. Say your goal in the present tense rather than future tense: for example... Instead of "I want to be a popular wedding photographer" say "I am a wedding photographer with a full calendar of weddings." Say it three times out loud. How does that make you feel? Is this how you want to feel? Sometimes what you think you want is not what you really want. There's been times when I think I want a certain thing but it ends up not being right for me.
You may not need to use all of these questions to help you work through things, but now you have a variety of options. Being able to work through a decision is a MUCH better solution than burying our heads in the sand. Baby steps! Make yourself proud...
Love these questions Sarah! I also now like to ask (since I have it defined) - is this in alignment with who I say I want to be and is this in alignment with my values.