Decision Making

Decisions, decisions, decisions, something which makes us really wonder as to why there are so many choices in life, something which reminds us that we are blessed enough to have so many choices in life,something which makes us curse ourselves(bad decisions), something which makes us heave a sigh of relief(good decisions).

All of us have been at cross roads in life, may it be life decisions or career decisions,

decisions certainly shape our future, our life and yes decisions definitely define us.

And it is because decisions have such impact on our life that we are really really scared about making decisions. But the irony is whether we like it or not, we definitely need to decide no matter how much we procrastinate or run away from it, we have to make decisions in life.

A great leader is one who decides and pursues the path taken to its culmination no matter what the odds are. A leader should first of all have the personal conviction and confidence in his line of decision making and as to why he takes a path. But then endless thinking and thinking too far ahead would lead us nowhere. It is enough to approximately know the height of a peak, endless contemplation would result in a situation where we don't even have the courage to take the first step. Think, decide, act and forget about thinking about the decision.

Emotions and decisions are always at war. It is again the heart and brain story. I always think that it is prudent to postpone decisions, and never decide when one is at an emotional high, may it be happiness, sadness,anger or whatever. Leave it and come to it later and think with a clear mind. List down pros and cons impartially and take a decision. There are people who say "listen to your heart", well there are some situations which may seem so, but I would always say, thinking with a clear head always helps avoid embarrassment and regrets later. There is a saying "A spoken word or a shot arrow can never be taken back"I will leave it at that.

No matter what happens, we must courageously pursue whatever we decide. Doesn't matter if we end up in bitter failure or eternal glory. It is always worthy to have some goal in life and pursue it with all our will. And yes by goals I mean worthwhile goals, which do not compromise integrity and character. And never ever hurt people. I read this nice quote somewhere "Never say or do things now which would make you regret later". That sums it up.

Finally, I would like to give a whole new perspective about decision making. In the figure above, I would like my readers to just reverse the image. What we will find is no matter whatever path we take, we all finally reach ourselves. Confused??? We decide and we choose paths in order to find out actually who we are. That's the philosophical and practical view of decision making. This effectively removes the fear in making decisions and pursuing it, for any decision would just be a journey to understand ourselves better. Life is a learning experience and decisions help us to apply that learning. All outward journeys, finally end up inward, within ourselves.

Thus there is actually no loss or gain in the grand scheme of things.

There are therefore no good or bad decisions.

I leave it to my dear readers to contemplate and send your views on it.