How many decisions do we make each day?

It is widely estimated that an adult makes 35,000 decisions every day whereas young children make only 3,000, per day.

Although this statistic appears to me to be highly debatable, and I would agree it would be right to be skeptical about it, it still is evident that we make more decisions than we think.

Decisions are interesting as it is where the confluence of so many elements of emotion, programming, the cocktail of circumstances, and (in some instances) forward planning occurs – both consciously and unconsciously.

So, therefore it is right to notice, where possible, the decisions that we do make because it now seems so important how each of our decisions at the beginning of the day, during the day or perhaps the evening before influences our decisions at the end of the day.

When we notice our decision-making processes we notice the culmination of a myriad of the elements of our life that go into each decision to form it – whether we judge each decisions to be from a negative or a positive standpoint– and how, as our energy levels fluctuate during the day, a different perspective of these decisions seems to form the basis of a new decision arising out of the former.

Stretching out the time factor even further with, say a 1-year plan or a 3-year plan gives a new twist too. Further studies say we overestimate what we can accomplish in one year, and underestimate what we can accomplish in 3 years. This may be more relevant if we do not make a 3-year plan or a one-year plan and stick to it.

Many people have low-ball goals, and the decisions made with small goals or even no goals at all keep people small.

People with large, aspirational goals by contrast afford themselves a much larger life as they come to see all the possibilities to reach the goals set. Large goals drive increasing potential.

In an ever-expanding world there is little opportunity to stand still anyway. It may seem like we stand still, but it is an illusion - we’re simply accommodating limitation instead of riding the roller coaster of perpetual change, or getting into the flow of life.

So how do we achieve larger goals, taking into account all of the above (and assuming the above is not the complete picture of decision making, but rather a taster of what decision making looks like)?

Well, here are some suggestions:

1. Set goals and make sure the goals are large ones. (Favourite book: The Magic of Thinking Big by David Schwartz). Ask lofty questions such as: ‘What is possible?’, or ‘What is the million dollar idea that can benefit me and the whole world?’

2. To avoid overwhelm as a result of large goals, make sub-goals like milestone goals.

3. In the famous bestseller for athletes: The Psychology of Winning, author Denis Waitley suggests talking to yourself, giving yourself your own pep talk: he explains that using negative words when talking to yourself spreads virally like wildfire, and using positive words takes longer to sink in to a conscious understanding. Use phrases like ‘I want to’, ‘I can’ and ‘I will’ when speaking to people. Other authors and coaches endorse the use of affirmations – both can be powerful here.

4. Eliminate unconscious judgement and instead make conscious decisions – in mindset work, observe the decisions you make. I would suggest this includes quieting mind chatter, working with your emotions to override any unconscious behaviours that sabotage your efforts to achieve your goals, working with the programming of the conscious and subconscious mind – through exercise to raise your energy, through meditation, through music – the list goes on of the variety of tools available and one or many might be useful to you.

5. Notice how decisions are cumulative, how one decision builds on the next and how one decision can lead to a proliferation of potential outcomes.

6. Pay more attention to inner work (accepting, being – think ‘ease’, planning) rather than doing (i.e. effort, hard work) in the outward environments - which brings in another theory that the outward environment is historical if you understand that creation happens at an energetic level before our outward environments are created, which means that creation happens in the past and in advance of what we perceive as reality.

Another way of looking at this is to avoid compensating with effort if your actions are not in alignment with your intuition: in a simple analogy by putting the handbrake on first to avoid the car rolling down the hill, we avoid the car going out of control.

7. Clear unwanted negative emotions: locate and delete the pattern – get out of the mind and into the feeling state of the body. Easier said than done, I hear you say. Agreed. These unwanted negative emotions can be cleared by tools such as EFT, psychology and other types of coaching including NLP and even energy work. It can be a constant lifelong process but as you go along the journey to clearing the negative emotions, your giggly inner child starts to come out to play!

8. Step outside your comfort zone. This is a delicate balance because self-care and the preservation of high energy levels – and pauses for comfort itself – are necessary. Through times of discomfort we discover what is delicious in the feelings of comfort which leads to new areas of desire, causing the stretch to give the leverage to set and reach new goals.

9. Live the beauty in your own decision making. If you make a wrong decision, depending on the decision it may be possible to simply re-decide.

10. When you’re pleased at the outcomes resulting from your decisions, take a pause to acknowledge the satisfaction as a result of a series of conscious decisions. This programs the mind to strive to achieve the same emotional feeling state for future success in your decision making and perpetuates improved, conscious outcomes from decision making.

By mastering control of your decisions, your best life can be within your reach!