How to make the right choice

We often have to make choices.

It’s a fact of life.

Some of them will be small, like what should you wear for work the next day or for a forthcoming event, what type of breakfast cereal to buy in the supermarket, or what magazine (website) to read during your break at work.

Then there are the ‘other decisions’.

These are the big ones and will require some thought, consideration and careful planning. For example, these could be 'what career path you would like to follow', 'where do you want to live' or 'what brand of car to buy next'.

In this article we will talk about dealing with the bigger decisions that you have to make from time to time.

Let's say that you are going to make an expensive purchase but you are struggling to choose between two or three items that you really like. Or maybe you are thinking about your next career move and unsure which job to apply for and which direction to take.

So, what should you do?

1. Choose the most appealing options. You need to identify 2-4 choices that would be the most interesting, valuable or doable.

2. Think about the long term options. Some options might sound like fun but you cannot imagine yourself doing them (or be interested in them) for longer than few months or even few weeks. You need to identify which of these options are more likely to engage you for a longer period of time?

3. "Get the best you can afford right now". A University colleague passed on this valuable piece of advice to me. In the case of making an expensive purchase (as in one of our examples), the advice is the straightforward one, "Get the best you can afford right now". But if, for instance, you are thinking about choosing between different jobs, then think about the most exciting option available to you. I.e. which job sounds more like it will be more fun to do in the long term in comparison to the others.

4. Think in financial terms (as we all have to pay bills and have to put food on the table). Therefore the amount of money being spent is always going to be part of the equation. If the choice you are making is about a purchase, then which option from amongst those you are choosing is going to make the most financial common sense and be the easiest to pay for? After you calculate all the facts and figures then the answer to this question is often pretty obvious.

If the choice you are making is about your career, then it might help if you think about which of these jobs will require less expense to commute to. For example, does getting to this job require that you drive two hours each way every day? If so then you might need to relocate for the job. If so, then how does the cost of living in that area compare to your present situation?
It’s not just a case of which job offers the better salary but which package is going to be better for you.

5. Still not clear which option to take? Sometimes even after carefully planning out the pros and cons of the situation the final decision is still unclear. Then, if you can, leave the decision making for a couple of days (or a bit longer) and come back to it when you are in a positive mood. The state of a positive mood is very important, because it can give you inspiring thoughts that will motivate you to make the right choices.

Sometimes it happens that even after the best planning and the most thorough calculation we still make the "wrong" choices. But if you think about it, they are not wrong, as they teach us valuable life experiences.

However, I hope that the suggestions given above will help you to make the right decision this time!