The way you start the year is definitory for how the rest of 2024 will be for you, so don’t waste your chance of having a year full of fun, pleasures, and better decisions!
What we need is often different from what we want, that’s why having a good decision-making mechanism set in place is vital, to make the distinction between something that is of use to us and something that we should just let go.
If you want to start this year fresh and feel like you are making a positive change in your life start to ask yourself a few questions every time you are making an important decision. It can be a decision regarding making a purchase, about dating a guy, about going to a certain event, about going in a business trip with a client, about going to a family event.
So, what are the questions you should ask yourself before deciding? In time you will see that these questions can be fully customized according to your preferences, your lifestyle, the things that are important to you and your conceptions on life and on what’s important to you.
But, until you start to figure things out, there is a set of questions you can follow. At first asking yourself these questions will be a thing that you have to do as a task, but in time these questions will come naturally.
Is this something I need?
- And when you ask yourself that, you think if that is something you can’t live without, something that brings you joy, or something that will improve your life.
What am I sacrificing to get this?
- Am I cutting down on my sleeping hours to get to that party? Am I going to live on canned food for a month, after I buy this thing? You need to think of the things that you will be cutting off on in order to obtain or do that thing, and if you feel that the sacrifice is worth it than go for it.
What are the consequences of my decision?
- Think of the people you’re impacting by making that decision, how your own life will be affected and try not to be overly impulsive and act on the spur of the moment. There are things that you can do spontaneously but keep this spontaneity for small decisions.
What would I advise a friend to do?
- Ask yourself what would you advise a close friend or a family member to do in a similar circumstance, and see if your advice is any different from your impulse.
Get the answers to these four questions and see if these answers shift your decision. This way you can avoid making decisions on impulse and take your time to think things through before committing to something.