Your decisions define who you are. Why? Decisions are ultimately tied to our performance as professionals, managers and leaders. When you make decisions, you use them as the basis for taking action and your action leads to results. These decisions can be about who you communicate with, your approach, how you handle conflict and solve problems, etc. The results lead to other decisions and actions—and generate the impressions that create your reputation.
When you struggle with difficult decisions, you are striving to meet a need for others and yourself—though it may be sunconciously. When the decision is important to you, do you struggle with how you feel? Do you use facts and try pushing your emotions away while they persist to nag? There is a way to make this process more effective. Consciously use your emotions to help you consider your needs.
Notice and use your emotions while sorting out your decisions.
Our emotions are a major factor in our struggle with decision-making. This is our subconscious mind’s way of communicating our needs so they make their way to our conscious consideration. Properly interpreted, our emotions can support us in making performance-improving modifications to our beliefs and strategies.
Even the most challenging and painful emotions can assist us.
Each component of every emotion prepares us to move toward what we want. For example, anger urges us to assert our rights, envy promotes improving our standing, and embarrassment allows us to undo a social gaffe.
When we make decisions, our emotions are means to help us achieve goals important to us.
They are tools that work beyond our conscious awareness to direct us where we need to go. They are not only instruments of our survival, causing us to fight or run, but, if we pay attention in the right way, emotions call out problems and opportunities. They lead us to excellent decisions.
In my next blog, I will share 5 simple steps in using emotions and needs to make effective decisions easier.
