Life Coach: How to Make a Great Decision

By Anna Dos Santos


We experience life as a series of events, which sequentially follow one another. One after the other, these events compel us to make decisions. Every decision has a result, which, like a ripple, glides you inevitably into another season where you will have to make new choices and decisions all over again …


Making Great decisions is therefore very important. How you make decisions normally depends on your personality. However, what you decide to do when you make the decision, especially an important one, is an outflow of your character.

Important life choices demand good decision-making skills. Sometimes, in the fog of all the confusion that surrounds a crisis or a period of important choices and decisions, you might wish that the need to make a decision would just go away, vanish. But it won’t. Big risks and great victories always call for great decisions.

Making a great decision does not happen per chance. Good decision-making is a life skill that demands maturity and a willingness to grow continuously.


There are countless types of decisions; here are a few:

Instant decisions. These decisions are immediate. We make them in a split instant.
It can be because the moment calls for urgency, or because I have to make a simple choice between a latte or a frappachino. The intensity of these decisions depends on their urgency or immediacy.

Intuitive decisions. These decisions happen to be instinctive and spontaneous and we normally do not feel pressure in making them. Intuitive decisions can be great ones, without us even knowing that they are.

Impulsive decisions. When me make a decision in the moment, without thinking and considering the facts at hand, the effects can sometimes be costly, depending on what it was you decided. A Great decision is seldom an impulsive one.

Incentive decisions. These happen when we make decisions based on facts and reason only. Life is not just fact and rationale. Decisions, especially regarding relationships, can never be incentive only. We need to add another dimension to the process.

Inclusive informed decisions happen when we consider all the facts, the intent, the dynamics behind it, and the people involved, prior to coming to a conclusion for the final decision.

Ignorant decisions take place when we are uninformed or remain in the dark about the importance of the outcomes of our decision.



A Great decision demands your full attention:

Consider and compare all the relevant factors. If you need more time and information, acquire it. If necessary, journal about your thoughts regarding the decision.

Consult, communicate or get counseling from a mentor or experienced person who have been in a similar situation, and, who is contented with their lives and the choices they have made.

Compare the pros and cons of each decision.

Evaluate each possible outcome and consider how it will affect all the dimensions of your life. Ask creative whole brain questions like: “why not?,” “who?,” “what?” and “how?”

Own your decision for a while, without talking about it, and live your life with the thought of how the outcomes of this decision will affect you and your loved ones.

Lastly, and most important: Pray about your decisions. Allow Peace to be the umpire and arbiter of it. If you can stand tall, look yourself straight in the eye, and go to sleep with peace in your heart after you have made the decision, you can celebrate. You have most probably made the right decision. Remember, the right decision is always a Great one.



About Anna: Anna Dos Santos, M.A. Soc R.C.P., R.W.B.P. is a life strategist, who also does life and transition coaching. She will also host our own Life coaching page. Send your questions and comments by clicking here.


Photo courtesy of Georgios M. W.</strong>