Want to Be Decisive?

Pressure mounts. Information is rolling in but it seems impossible to make hide nor hair of it. Others are frantic but the leader sits calmly. And then, seemingly out of thin air she makes a decision. And when everyone hears it, they know it is right. How did she do it?

I admire people who get more coolheaded as the tension builds up. Don’t you? Even more, I respect those who can quickly analyze the available facts and options then firmly outline a plan of action. For a long time, I thought people were born with this ability.

But six years in the military showed me that decisiveness is an outgrowth of knowing one’s values and having a clear objective. When faced with a challenge, if you have well-defined principles and you know where you want to go you can make good decisions quickly. Here is how to know if your values are clear:

1. Make a list of your beliefs. For example, you may think it is important to be kind.


2. For each of your beliefs, write down two to four very specific scenarios where the belief applies. Using the previous example, a scenario might be: dealing with my daughter when she wants something.


3. For each scenario, think through how the value is relevant the situation. Better yet, write down your response. Let’s say my daughter wants a cookie. Is the kind response to always give her one? If I know my objective is to help her learn self-discipline and good eating habits in most cases it is probably unkind to give her a cookie since this teaches her to be indulgent and does not reinforce the idea of a healthy diet. The truly kind response is to say no and explain why, saving yes as a reward for a lesson well learned or a special occasion.

For setting clear objectives, see my previous blog posts on having a mission statement and setting goals.

Question – What ideas do you have for better understanding your values? Please comment below.