How do you make your decisions?

May 4, 2025
10:02 AM

How do you make decisions? What do you most frequently ask yourself to decide what to make of your time? If the decisions we make build the pillars of a great life, how we make our decisions lays the foundation. No matter where we are in life, if we want to continue improving, decision-making is an important aspect of our lives worth reflecting on and reviewing.

When I first dropped out of college to start my first business, I met my first mentor. Most of the questions I asked him were for his opinion on what he'd do in my situation. Seeing the pattern, one of the first lessons he taught me was to weigh my decisions carefully. He told me my process of making decisions was just as important as the decisions themselves.

It was advice from a man who wanted to leave the world in the hands of people who could continue to teach future generations how to lead when he was gone. He didn't want to tell me what to do. He wanted to help me learn how to find my own answers. It was his way of telling me to explore what I value and discover what needs to be prioritized for myself.

It wasn't something I considered before. I began to research. I looked at the people I admired and began to note how they made their decisions. Many made decisions based on accumulating and preserving their resources, like their attention, energy, money, and time. A few had a set of values and philosophies they followed. Some focused on their goals; who they wanted to become, what they wanted to do, and what they wanted to have. Others made decisions based on what brought them peace of mind.

After my research, I fell back where I started. I couldn't decide which method to use to make my decisions. They all seemed reasonable. In my struggle to understand which to choose, I realized my problem. I was only looking for one way, the best way, to make all my decisions, rather than giving each decision the respect it deserves and finding the best way to decide each one.

If you are struggling to identify your values, know that it isn't something you uncover through the process of elimination, but something you gain through the process of accumulation. You learn to appreciate and value more, not less. There is a time and place for all values. The key is knowing which of your values is most relevant and how it applies to your current situation.

11:42 AM
Chris X