“May your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears.”
These words, from Nelson Mandela, speak volumes about the difficulties we face in the often-fraught process of decision-making.
A decision is essentially a choice. Whether that choice involves major, potentially life-changing choices, such as whether to move forward with a career opportunity, or make a commitment to a life partner, or trivial matters, such as what to order for lunch, making a decision almost always involves choosing one thing over another, and therefore giving up something for the pursuit of something else. Decision-making always involves choosing one path or thing over another and always leads to change.
Making decisions (especially significant ones that could potentially impact our personal lives, careers, and happiness for years to come) can be extremely challenging and stressful. We may fear the unknown, failure, uncertainty, and change.
The challenges of change
As human beings, we are creatures of habit. We thrive on structured routines, surrounded by familiar, predictable elements in our everyday lives. In the face of pending decisions that will trigger change, we often find it uncomfortable and upsetting, even though stress is known to negatively affect our capacity to make sound, effective decisions.…
