5 Steps to Wiser Choices

Every day of our lives there are choices to be made. Every day of our lives involves making plans.

Even if you are doing absolutely nothing with your day, you have to choose to do nothing and then every choice you make throughout the day leads to accomplishing the plan of a do-nothing day. You’re not getting dressed. You’re not answering the phone. You’re not responding to email. You’re not answering the front door. You’re in the bed, watching television, eating snacks and doing nothing.

See, how that works?

I’ve been a nonprofit leader since 2006 and in 2010, I started consulting and created a fiscal sponsorship program for startup nonprofits. Each founder that I worked with had a good idea to start a nonprofit. They wanted to make a difference in their local communities and believed that they could offer something that would help make positive changes in and for the people they wanted to help.

Something that most of these organizations had in common was that they had way too many ideas; they were trying to be too many things and do too many things. They needed to simplify and decide who they really wanted to be; and, admittedly that’s not always the easiest thing to do.

Unfortunately, a byproduct of the inability to make good choices is that you’re prone to choose any and everything!

Yes! No? Maybe… All of the Above?!

The truth that you and I both know is that not every decision is easy to make. And not every choice comes with a warning sign. Do you know how many people we could keep out of our lives if folks would just wear t-shirts that warn us about who they really are?

“I’m a bad friend.” “I don’t play well with others.” “I’m probably going to steal from you.” “I lie a lot.” “Don’t date me, I’m bitter.” “I absolutely will break your heart.”

I need a tee for myself that says “I expect a lot from my friends, so it’s likely that you won’t be one of them!” (Wouldn’t that be fun?)

We’ve all been at the intersection of Oops, I’ve Made a Bad Choice Avenue and Now What Do I Do Boulevard. (Stop pretending—yes you have!)

Sometimes we make bad choices. We may find that the things that we chose are occupying so much space in our lives that we don’t have room to choose the things that we should really be going after. (In a few weeks, we’ll have a chat about practicing the word “No!”) Other times, we have become so paralyzed by life that we don’t want to decide on anything. We just refuse to make choices that will shift us to the next level, we don’t try anything new, we put our dreams on hold—which is still a decision.

So, start with these questions before you choose again:

1. Am I being honest about my motives?

Ask yourself why you want whatever you’re considering and answer yourself honestly!

I’ve made choices to do things and tacked God’s name to my plans—knowing that I didn’t even consult Him about what I wanted to do and I had my own agenda.

So don’t just ask yourself why, but, measure your answer honestly. After you’ve been genuine and honest with yourself about your motives, reconsider your choices. You may find yourself deciding to walk away from something that you are pursuing for all the wrong reasons; and this time, walking away is a good thing!

2. Am I fighting time?

Time doesn’t play fair. Time will pass and you’ll never even realize it. Once time leaves, it never comes back. Time can fly and you can’t (ha, get it? Time flies…OK, never mind).

The passing of time can cause frustration, because after all you’re “not getting any younger”. The passing of time can underscore your loneliness and you end up in friendships and relationships that you would not otherwise be in. The passing of time shines a light on our fear of not accomplishing the things on our “should’ve, could’ve and would’ve” list.

It’s not hard to lose the fight to the pressure of time and make the wrong choices. Be careful. Making decisions because you feel that you’re running out of time can lead to you wasting more time doing things that you neither can nor will be faithful to.

3. How will this choice impact the other areas of my life?

Your choices can and very likely will have an effect on something (or someone) else in your life.

So when making choices, consider what things will shift, what things will get less of your attention, what things will require more of your attention, how much time will you actually be able to invest, how will this impact your (or other people’s) money, will you need more space to work, will you need to get other people involved?

4. Do I need (or do I have enough) help?

Speaking of other people…

Moses’ father-in-law Jethro advised him to choose a team that would help him before he burned himself out trying to do everything on his own. Jesus had a team and He sent them and gave assignments to them. Why do we always think that we can do everything by ourselves?

Before you make another decision, assess whether or not it really is something that you can do by yourself.

And don’t lie to yourself!

Remember, you’re only one person and you only have so many hours in a day. There may be things that you need to delegate. You don’t have every skill. You don’t know everything. You don’t understand everything. You can’t do it all.

Don’t buy into the hype of being “self-made”.

You may need to recruit some folks to assist you. If you don’t, you’re going to find yourself ready to make the decision to quit because you’re overwhelmed.

5. What is informing my decisions?

Sometimes we make decisions based on the bits and pieces of things that we see from other people’s lives.

You have a friend that started a business that is blowing up! She has tons of followers on social media and people are buying her products. Just based on what you see, it must be a good idea for you to do the same thing, right?

You decided to do what she’s doing and it’s not working for you.

Now you’re discouraged (or worse, jealous) because you started something without having all of the information of what goes on behind the scenes. You didn’t know what skills you’d need. You didn’t know how much time or money needed to be invested. You didn’t know who your target buyer should be.

You began without information.

Before you make a choice, do your research. Real research! Don’t just read the inspiring posts on Instagram and in the Facebook groups. Don’t just watch the videos of all of the happy people that have been successful in what you’re considering, telling you that you can do it, too.

Look deeper into the matter and where ever possible, talk to someone that has done what you’re considering. Ask questions and get feedback on the pros and cons.

Better Choices. Better Choices? Better Choices!

I’m making a declaration that there is a new freedom and a release of grace coming to you and your ability to make better choices; in particular, making better choices according to God’s plan for your designed life. My prayer for you is that you will consider (and reconsider) the choices that you have to make.

Your focus for the remainder of this year is going to be making the effort to make better choices.

Now, go, make wise choices and live your designed life!

#Decisions #LifeChoices