How can I make a difficult decision?

Sometimes when you’re forced to make a difficult decision, you ponder it over and over again, not knowing which way to turn.  It can be stressful (depending on the situation) and coming to a decision seems almost impossible.

When you have a decision to make, you’re obviously faced with choices.  Will I go with Option 1 or with Option 2?

More often than not, it’s difficult to see which option poses the most benefits or drawbacks, which is where this tool comes in.

This tool is called the Benefits and Drawbacks Grid.

This grid has helped many of my clients to come to a decision they’ve been pondering for what seems like forever.  It finally provided them with the clarity they needed to choose with option to go with.

So here’s what you do…

1. Replace the words “Option 1” and “Option 2” with what each of your choices are.  You  can add extra columns if you have more than two choices, but I’ve used just two here to give you an example.
2. List all of the benefits and drawbacks for each option in the relevant box.  So for Option 1, in the top left hand box you will write down all of the benefits for that option.  In the box below that, you will write down all of the drawbacks of this option.  Repeat this process for Option 2.  You may need to think long and hard about this, but brainstorm your ideas and write them as they come to mind.
3. Once you have finished this step, review the grid and see if one option stands out as the preference to the other.  Sometimes this is quite obvious, but at other times it’s not so obvious and you may need to decide if the benefits and drawbacks of one are better/worse than the other.

This is just one of the many tools you can use to make a decision and it’s great because seeing your lists on paper really helps you to clearly see where the clear benefits and drawbacks for each option are.

Until next time, have a fantastic day!