THE RIGHT DECISION | stedtnitz. design your life

Making mindful decisions is a big part of taking ownership over yourself and your life.

Deciding On A Course of Study

Many of our younger clients have a broad range of interests. Often they’re highly creative and have numerous abilities in different areas. This might make the process of choosing a career more exciting, but not necessarily easier. On the contrary: many find this broad spectrum of possibilities overwhelming and confusing. For some, making decisions is not only challenging as far as careers go, but also in their day-to-day lives. Each decision feels cumbersome and depleting.

Choosing a Course of Study Isn’t Crossing the Rubicon*

Especially when it comes to choosing a course of study, many young adults shy away from making a decision. They fear that their choice will determine the entire course of their lives. But it’s less about which profession you’ll still enjoy in 40 years, and rather about which direction is most interesting and enjoyable for you in this present moment. The times of having a 40-year-long career at the same firm are long gone. In the age of digitalization, jobs are constantly coming and going. Even experienced professionals are always investing in further training and re-orienting themselves.

Cultivating this awareness can lower the pressure around choosing your course of study. It’s not about a once-in-a-lifetime decision, but rather about choosing the next step in a series of steps. This is part of an exciting journey that we can craft ourselves.

Here’s what can help:

Acknowledge that there’s no such thing as a perfect decision

If you’ve ever made a pro and con list, you know that every decision has advantages and disadvantages. This means that even the decision that comes closest to being the “right” one, will have some unavoidable consequences.

• Release your fear of making a mistake

The struggle with making a decision is often closely tied to a fear of making mistakes. In the spirit of the following quote by Robert H. Schuller: “Better to do something imperfectly than to do nothing perfectly.” – it’s better to do something than nothing at all. Always choosing the safe route can lead to a sense of inertia and feeling stuck.

• You have the key

Trust yourself. No one can take your decision away from you. Here’s the good news: you already know everything you need to know in order to make a meaningful decision. You know yourself better than anyone else. It’s only about structuring your sense of self – become clear about your qualities, desires, strengths and interests. Professional support can work wonders in this process! More on that in some of our upcoming blog posts.

And here are some more decision making tools you can play around with:

•  Toss a coin

That sounds deceptively simple. But when it comes down to choosing between two alternatives this method can work wonders. As soon as you’ve tossed the coin, you’ll feel an emotional reaction towards an outcome. This may be joy, relief, disappointment or something along those lines. This reaction usually reveals which decision we truly feel drawn towards.

• Carry each choice around with you for a week

If you have several choices to pick from, it can help to carry these around with you for a week each. Act “as if” you’ve made a specific choice and take note of the thoughts, emotions, conversations and wishes that come up. After you wrap up this exercise, compare the notes you made for each alternative.

• A feeling-based pro-con list

Struggling to make a decision often comes from taking a cognitive-logical approach where emotions are neglected. Write down the outcomes and changes that are associated with each alternative and notice which emotions come up.

• Be your own friend

Pretend like you’re one of your good friends and imagine what kind of advice you’d give yourself. This can help with creating some space around the chaos in your mind and may lead to uncovering a fresh perspective.

 

I wish you much clarity, joy and curiosity as you explore your decision-making process! Let me know in the comments below if any of these tools worked for you, I’d love to hear from you.

 

Milena Kaufmann

 

*This figure of speech refers to Julius Caesar crossing the Rubicon river – a decision that led to the Roman Civil War. To cross the Rubicon means to make a consequence laden decision that will have an irrevocable impact.