Keys to Making Good Decisions (3 of 3): When You’re Under Pressure

Keys to Making Good Decisions (3 of 3): When You’re Under Pressure

Sometimes the pressure is on, and you have to make a decision fast. Here’s one key to making a good one…

Video Transcript:

I want to continue talking on the theme of making good decisions, because making good decisions is such an important part of our life, we do it all day, every day. Some of those are really simple and easy, some of those are really big and important, and some of those need to happen in a hurry because the pressure is on for some reason or another. So I want to talk about making good decisions when the pressure is on.

One of the keys to making good decisions in that time is to not rush them, and that’s the temptation. We feel we need to make them in a hurry because of the deadline or because of something that is happening that is urgent, but that never helps us make good decisions. Hasty decisions are not good decisions. That doesn’t mean you have to take forever to make them – you can make them quickly, but you don’t want to be hasty. What I mean by “hasty” is to not think things through, just do it fast to get the pressure off of you.

We don’t like that feeling of pressure, so we want to get out from under it, so we sometimes make a quick decision just to get away from that, and that doesn’t help us. Few decisions have to be made immediately – you can almost always take at least a few minutes, five or ten minutes, to take a breath, slow down and think. Think about: what are the real issues here? What do I need to have happen? What are the consequences of different options?

You might not have all the information you want, you might not be able to think it through as thoroughly as you want, but don’t just react to the pressure. Take the time to think, as much as you can, and you’ll find you make better decisions. Don’t give in to the fear, don’t give in to the pressure. Take a minute, take a breath, say a quick prayer and then think through as best you can, what needs to happen, how it needs to happen, what the options are and things like that.

Good decisions come when we do our best to think through the different options and consequences. Making decisions in a hasty manner, never helps to do that. When it comes to decision making, haste really does make waste.