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Happy 1st of April!
Spring has sprung on the River and it’s lovely to have some sunshine and blue skies.
For me, the expression ‘spring cleaning’ has far more to do with fresh starts, new beginnings than it does with cleaning, which I’ll readily admit is not my forte!?
I’m far more interested in de-cluttering my mind than my cupboards. A time to take stock of what’s working well and what’s not, check in on what’s most important to me and where I want to focus my energy and time in the coming months.
Making better decisions is an integral part, so today’s nudge is a conversation about some ways to make that easier.
1 How clear are you on how you’d like your life to be? – I know I bang on a lot about this, but with good reason. If you don’t have a clear picture on what is important to you, why you’re spending your time as you are, and how you’d like life to be then how is it possible to make any decisions, let alone better ones?
Reminds me of that old story about Little Red Riding Hood walking through the forest. When she comes to a fork in the road, the Wolf is sitting there. When he sees her hesitating which road to take, he asks her “Where are you going?” “I don’t know” she says….”Then it doesn’t really matter which road you take then” he replies.
2 How do you define what’s important? – a good place to start is to notice how you’re already living and responding to people and things in your life – often on auto pilot. What tends to rile or trigger you, and what’s happening when you feel more at ease and relaxed?
I’ve referred to this before as your blueprint, or internal software that’s running your show. Far easier to change your own blueprint over which you have total control than it is to change external circumstances or people over which you have little or none.
3 What are your non-negotiable values? – there’s a lot of discussion in the personal development world about knowing your values, but how well do you really know yours? And I’m not talking about one word values like trust, honesty, integrity, but delving deeper behind what those words specifically mean for you in practice, how they play out in your life and impact your decisions and relationships with others.
4 Where do you rank yourself on your ‘to do list’? – if you’re not putting yourself first – and yes, you read that right – then things can quickly unravel in times of indecision for two key reasons:
i you’re far more likely to make decisions based on others’ needs and agendas and not your own, which can lead to resentments building up over time, and two
ii if you aren’t taking care of your physical or mental well being to begin with, the resulting stress can make for poor decision making. Being a masterful gatekeeper over your thoughts and emotions is an absolute must for making better decisions.
5 Do you have a morning routine? – a game changer for me and my clients for improving all aspects of your wellbeing, and how you approach difficult decisions. If you jump on your email first thing, or are glued to your mobile phone, chances are you are not giving yourself the best start to your day. Taking a quiet hour for yourself to exercise, journal, read or listen to something that inspires you, and think through your important tasks for your day goes a long way towards ensuring you take decisions based on your priorities and not others’ demands.
I hope you’ve found this conversation helpful, and it gives you some ideas about making better decisions!
Making better decisions will be the focus of our next nudgeme Small Group in May. We’ll be delving deeper into this conversation then. Click here to see what joining a group will give you, and how much easier life has become for others who have already dived in!