3 Easy Ways To Make The Best Choice

The Best Choice - Gia Cilento - The Peace Doctor, Life Coach, Author, Speaker, Reiki Master, Healer
Making the best choice can sometimes be difficult. Sometimes there seems to be far too many things to choose from, such as breakfast cereal, and sometimes there are far too few, such as choosing between Republican and Democrat. Still other times, your choices may seem to be between a rock and a hard place and you feel that you have to choose the lesser of two evils.

There are also times when you feel you have no choices at all except the one that seems the most vile or loathsome. In those situations it’s hard to see or think clearly and you end up with a feeling of helplessness and/or victimhood, a very nasty feeling, and a great deal of stress.

This type of choice often happens when facing something you really don’t like but feel you have to do, or have been told you have to do since childhood, such as working at a job you dislike.

Just about everyone has been in these types of situations before and probably felt like they didn’t really know how to make a choice that they would be satisfied with later on.

So, what does it mean when you hear, “… make the best choice.” The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines to choose:

“1 – a : to select freely and after consideration

- b : to decide on especially by vote : elect

2 – a : to have a preference for

- b : decide ”1

The Best Choice - Gia Cilento - The Peace Doctor, Life Coach, Author, Speaker, Reiki Master, HealerWhile this is a useful and workable definition it doesn’t really give any insight into making good, sound, wise choices or making the best choice for you. So, here are three ways that will help you with those decisions that may seem painful, larger than life or just plain difficult at times:

Give yourself some distance from the situation, some objectivity, to help you see the broader picture, giving you the ability to see the options available and their potential impact / outcome clearly. One way you can do this is by taking a birds eye view of your life and, from there, see how this particular choice point impacts you, is it significant, insignificant or neutral. In other words, if you were to imagine your entire life laid out on a timeline, where does this particular choice point fit in? Sometimes, you can get so wrapped up in the immediacy of something that it takes on a life of its own and seems more important and dire than it really is. Taking a birds eye view of your life can give you a broader perspective and help take the emotional charge out of making a decision, which makes it easier to see which choice would be the best one.

Categorize your choices based on criteria you select, such as: relative ease; estimated amount of joy, happiness, fulfillment; length of time; cost; amenability; and etc. From there, you can rank your criteria as to importance as you see it, weigh your rankings and come up with a viable, workable solution.

For each option available, make two columns on a piece of paper or in a word processing program with the headings: PRO’S and CON’S. In each column, and for each option, think about the possible pro’s and con’s inherent in each choice and write them down. Cross out those that appear across all or several options and circle those that are the most important or least desirable. You’ll end up with a pretty clear idea of which option has the most and least desirable outcomes.

These are just a few tools to help you gain some clarity about making important choices that come up in your life. You may find other tools that work well for you, too. You may also find that combining these tools works for you in some situations. And, at other times, you may have to do more research and get some advice from experts in the field. Most importantly, when faced with difficult or important decisions that bring up strong emotions, do your best to take some time, get clear about your real options and what potential impact they’ll have on you and make your choice from a clear, solid, grounded place.

Maybe you have a different method that works well for you. Feel free to share in the comments section below.

1. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/choose