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Every single day presents us with a series of decisions. Some are so clear as to be almost automatic, but others weigh heavily on us. This week’s article asks us: how can we tell if you're making the right choice? How can we be sure that we’ve truly taken everything into account before making a difficult decision? Compellingly, the article reminds us that strong decision-making skills don’t just help us navigate daily choices; they form the foundation for a more confident, intentional life.

Happy reading!

”How Do I Make a Good Decision?”
_{by Daniel Wyzynski HEC-C, MHSc, for Psychology Today}

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Life will never fail to confront us with difficult decisions. Here, ethicist Daniel Wyzynski offers six steps drawn from ethical decision-making frameworks to help you address life’s hardest choices from a place of clarity, understanding, and assuredness.

When faced with a hard decision, you should:

• Frame the Question and Define the Conflict: Clarify the issue at hand. Do not confuse being involved in a decision with being accountable. Take emotion or personal dynamics out of the equation to reach the most exact line of thought on the decision at hand.
  

• Explore All Options, Especially the Uncomfortable Ones: Map out all plausible avenues. Listing all of them– even those that seem far fetched– allows for the most informed ability to select the best route forward.
  

• Gather the Information You Need: Try to understand both what you know and what you don’t know about a decision. Lean into reliable, verifiable facts to do so. Identifying and addressing information gaps is key to making an assured decision.
   

• Surface Values and Principles: Every decision you make reflects a set of values, consciously or not. SO: understand your bedrock values. Naming them gives structure to your reasoning. It helps you self-articulate not only the choice itself, but why you felt right in making it.
  

• Seek Out Other Perspectives: Pursue the knowledge & experience of others. Be honest with yourself about your blind spots or biases that may influence your decision-making process, and go to those that you think may help overcome those gaps.
  

• Deliberate and Justify Your Choice: Reflect, build lists, and make a deliberative decision: one you can explain, stand behind, and live with. This is what will allow you to make decisions with intention.

Sometimes, a decision arises with no clearly optimal choice. In those moments, what matters most is making a decision with thoughtful reasoning, principled judgment, and the courage to stand by what you believe is right. When we build the ability to assess decisions clearly and then take action grounded in a strong sense if principle, we become better prepared to face life’s toughest moments with assurance and integrity.

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So tell us: Have you developed any tried and true personal systems for making difficult decisions in your life?

Thank you,

The MAP Team

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