Our decisions largely dictate the course of our life. We are constantly making decisions. Most of these decisions we make quickly and with little thought such as what to wear and what to eat. Other decisions such as deciding on a job offer may take days or weeks to decide.

When making larger decisions that will have a major impact on your life it is important to have a system that you can use. This will help you to make an informed and well thought out decision to give you the best chance of it being successful.

Some initial questions to think about when you have a decision.

What is the timeline for the decision?

How important is this decision?

Whom will this decision affect?

Here is a system to help you make important life decisions:

1. Identify the decision and the intended outcome. What is the decision that you have to make? What is the outcome that you would like to see happen? Gaining clarity on this will save you a lot of time and energy down the road.

2. Gather relevant information. Research credible sources such as reading articles or watching videos. Also, talk to people that can assist you in the decision. Three types of people that you want to talk to include experts, people that you trust, and parties that are involved or affected by the decision.

3. Come up with suitable options. As you are doing this research be thinking about possible options that you have. You may add to this as you do more research.

4. Weigh your options. Give thought to each option and the likelihood of success and the outcomes of the decision. If you are in a business you may be able to do market research or cost analysis of the decision. It can be helpful to reconnect with people that you have already talked to and to reach out to new people during this phase.

5. Make a decision. Once you have weighed your options then make the best decision that you can from your options. For life decisions, I like to do where my head and heart meet. This means to be logical as well as listen to my gut. Doing research, talking with others, and giving it thought will help guide your intuition. For business decisions, intuition still comes into play but it may be more driven by data and logic.

6. Evaluate the decision. Once you have made your decision the process isn't over. You want to evaluate the decision on an ongoing basis. Look at the consequences of the decision and potentially make adjustments as needed.

Here are two things to avoid:

1. Too little or too much information. Out of these two, I see people making a big decision with too little information more often. This is a result of not taking enough time to gather relevant information. At times I will also see people gathering too much information and either overthinking or just delaying their decision.

2. Fear of being wrong. It is normal to have some doubts about a big decision. The issue becomes when this fear prevents you from making a certain decision or a decision in general.

By going through this process it allows you to feel more confident in your decision. You can have peace of mind in knowing that you took the time to think it through and that you had a system to help you make it. With practice and evaluation, you will become better and better at making decisions!