When the stakes are high, how do you decide For Your Life direction?

Here is A Method to help you make better decisions

Decision-making is easy when it comes to buying a drink. You know what you want. The risk of failure is low. 

When it comes to high-stakes decisions: changing careers, or moving countries, we can feel paralysed by the possibilities, considerations, and consequences. Particularly when parts of the outcome feel like dreams come true, and parts of it are hard to take. 

High-stakes decisions are hard because they involve more complexity than we expect.

We need to consider the pros and cons, plus trade-offs for all possible areas we can identify. 

Given everyone's situation is different and everything is evolving every minute, it's IMPOSSIBLE to have a guaranteed blueprint to follow. No one has a perfect answer. 

Beyond that, even if we have set realistic expectations, we won't know how we feel until we are living in it. 

Just like when I moved to a new country, I was aware that the culture is different and had expected that. But knowing the difference in words is different from experiencing the difference in person.

Even though I have moved countries more than once, it’s the same! 

And more importantly, if we don't know what we want, we will not be able to make a good decision, but a random one, like gambling. It's ok, but we also need to understand it’s not a surprise if we feel regret soon.

No one knows the best decision for you but you.

Some people lead their lives by heart because they are clear about what they want. 

Just like some Olympic athletes didn't need a deep analysis to choose their career, because they have been exposed to an environment that allowed and cultivated their love of the sport. Their life direction decisions can be easier.

Most people (me included) didn't live in those circumstances. We start from 'How can I make money to survive?' or 'What kind of job should I do for a living?'.

To learn what we truly desire, it takes some effort to dig deeper, but it's possible to uncover them through self-reflection and a thought process.

This process is not about comparing options. Instead, it starts from the fundamentals to understand your needs inside out. I call it THE INSIDE-OUT DECISION METHOD, and it starts with four questions.

1. What are you trying to achieve with this decision? 

Why does it matter to you? Is there anything you want to gain or avoid? What are they?

2. Who is this decision going to impact, positively and negatively? 

Just you? Or your family members? Your teammates? Or someone else? 

3. Why do you need to make this decision now? 

Is there a push or pull factor? What are they? If you don't need to decide now, when do you really need to make the call?

4. What would happen if you don't make this decision? 

Is it something your future self aspires to have? Is this call for decision driven by fear or out of love?

The world is evolving every day. The number of international immigrants was 150 million 20 years ago, but has doubled now. We didn't have AI 5 years ago, but we have it now.

Our environment and context are not constant.

The best decision is the best one at the time you make it.

No one can make decisions that guarantee ‘Happy Ever After’.

That's why the best decision is not a definite answer. You can always change and make a better one. Sometimes it’s necessary to do so as well.

Making a good call for high-stakes decisions can be easy if you make it with your truth and out of love, while knowing nothing is guaranteed. 

Yet, would you rather live happily with a decision you made or be frustrated by one you didn't?

If you struggle to make some tough decisions, give yourself 15 minutes to go through the thinking process and write down your thoughts with pen and paper. 

I hope it will help you discover what you cannot see yet and make a better decision as a result. 

Hope this article inspires you. If it does, do share with others because

~ WE RISE BY LIFTING OTHERS ~