Do you want to make great decisions? Let me share my method which uses the left- and right-brain, thus combining the rational with the intuitive. The result is that you’ll feel confident about your choice and know exactly what to do next.
1. Identify the Emotion
You’re introduced to something new, perhaps an opportunity or a challenge. What’s your immediate emotional reaction? Identify it. Use the Emotional Guidance Scale for help.
Positive Intelligence (PQ) simplifies this emotional identification process as negative or positive. Use PQ if that resonates more. Ask yourself whether you feel negatively or positively about the situation.
2. Feel it, don’t numb it
Allow yourself to feel the emotion instead of pushing it away.
Personally, when I’m fearful, I get numb or separated from my body. Disconnection is a common physiological response to high stress or fear.
Avoidance. Numbing. Disconnection. They act as protective tools from perceived external threat. Unfortunately, that protective wiring is faulty much of the time.
Be aware that you can only feel in your body, not your mind, so let your body deliver its message. Remember the vagus nerve moves from the large intestine to the brain.
Did you know you only feel an emotion for 90 seconds? For all the avoidance of strong emotions such as fear or extreme stress, you may find it comforting to know that it only takes 90 seconds to process it.
3. Ground Yourself
Get grounded. You’re ready now. Imagine yourself as a majestic oak tree with a huge canopy and extensive roots. Extend those roots, specifically, the taproot, deep into the soil toward the earth’s core. Plant yourself firmly.
Breathe. Inhale for three counts, exhale for seven, pause for eight and restart the cycle. Repeat three or four times. By doing this type of breathing, you increase the amount of oxygen in your body by removing excess carbon dioxide. You’ll notice a heightened focus.
Grounding yourself brings you into the present moment. When you’re present, you see clearly. You have access to your full creative potential while simultaneously detaching from self-limiting beliefs.
4. Consider the situation
As Einstein recommended, “Spend 55 minutes on the problem and five (5) on the solution.” I use this technique in coaching to keep clients focused on curiosity and not on outcome. You generate more ideas this way.
Explore your options. You are now using your right brain, which holds your creativity, visual imagery, patterns, and emotions. Play with the images, relationships, and configurations without assigning words to them. The right brain does not hold language so understand that as soon as you give words to something, you’re providing an interpretation to it.
5. Move to the solution
Once you produce your list of options, you can sift through them like a library patron does with a card catalogue. (This reference may only resonate with older readers. For younger ones, think of a video game where you can choose how to dress, protect, defend, or build within your chosen universe.)
Weigh your preferred options before making your final choice. You’ll know it’s the right one when you find the one with the most weight.
6. Act
From this grounded place of knowing, it’s easy to move forward. Straightforward even. Act on your weightiest solution.
Getting grounded helps you transition from a fixed to open mindset, from left brain to right brain. In Sage mode (right brain), you retrieve your natural intuition. Then, by combining it with rational left-brain thinking in steps 5 and 6, you become a powerhouse.
May this guidance invigorate your decision-making. Let me know how it goes.
Header Photo by Anthony Tran on Unsplash