Want to know what the single biggest time waster in your life is (probably)?
It is…wait for it…THINKING. Or rather over-thinking.
As you can see from the flow-chart above, it’s amazing how much time we can use up thinking about things, doubting ourselves and weighing up different options before making a decision.
Do you over-think things?
When you make a decision, how long do you spend thinking about it? Does it depend on what it is? How much the outcome will affect your life?
I’ll let you in to a little secret – it doesn’t matter how much the outcome will affect your life, or what it is, decisions can and should be made quickly, but you can only make quick decisions if you know how to.
1 Golden Rule:
Train your intuition (by using it more), then listen to it.
That’s it – no big secret, no methodologies to follow, just that.
Just in case you’re not used to doing that (most of us have spent so much time doubting ourselves it’s hard to know what our intuition is, a little test I like to use is to pretend I’ve made the decision (whatever way it might go), and notice how I feel. If I feel a sense of relief of happiness, that’s the right decision, if not, I’ll look again.
I did this recently when deciding to up sticks, leave my secure family business and move to London. It was probably one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever had to make, and I found myself going round in circles. So after a while, I just took a time out and imagined how I’d feel if I’d told my family I was leaving.
To my surprise, instead of feeling racked with guilt and fear of leaving the stability I was used to, I felt relieved. Still nervous, but relieved and excited.
So that was my decision made. Once the decision was made, the rest came easily. I’m spending my first week in London now and I have to say, I totally made the right choice!