Aah.
Decisions.
Should I do this, or that?
Should I follow my passion, or should I take the “safe” road?
Our lives are made up of decisions.
How you make those decisions determines your life.
But it’s not just how, but from where you make decisions.
That’s what many people miss.
They may achieve success, but without following their inner authority, they may never achieve satisfaction.
Make Good Decisions — The Video
So how do you make good decisions both in life and business?
In the video below I share my story, and what I’ve learned from helping people with this.
(The article continues below the article. Both the video and the article complement each other, so I recommend you watch/read both).
Also, if you want to make sure you get all my videos, make sure you subscribe to my YouTube channel. Not all videos are posted here on the blog.
How to Make Great Decisions
Making decisions isn’t about solely figuring things out with your mind.
It’s about listening to your inner GPS, to what feels alive to you.
This isn’t about formulas, or even guidelines. This is about you listening to the wisdom within you.
When you are ready to listen to your inner authority, your life will change.
There are three things that come to mind when I think about how I make decisions.
1. Listening
Making decisions begins with listening to yourself.
I used to look outside for answers. But I’ve since come to realize that the only person that can help me live a fulfilling life is myself.
And when I say I, I don’t mean my mind. I mean my inner wisdom, my heart, my gut.
When someone asks me if I want to do something, I focus my awareness inside, and notice how it feels.
However, I’ve noticed that it takes time for me to gain clarity, especially on bigger issues, like buying a house, or making a change in my business.
And I’ve had to learn to discern between impulse reactions, and deeper resonance. I’m still learning. The good news? Perfection is not required.
2. Waiting
If you’re like me, you’re impatient. You want things to happen now. You want the answer yesterday.
I’ve learned the hard way that pushing and forcing doesn’t work, so I’ve had to learn how to wait.
When I tell people about the power of waiting, they often reply: “I don’t want to wait, I have things to do.”
This isn’t a regular kind of waiting where you sit around doing nothing.
I can wait to gain clarity on buying a house, while I’m working on a book. I have plenty of things to do.
But what I refuse to do is rush a decision. I can feel when I’m ready. I have no idea how long it’ll take, but I know when the process is finished.
It’s almost as if life is living me.
Decisions happen when I get out of the way. Solutions pop up from nowhere.
Many talk about taking control of your life, and while that appeals to my mind, I haven’t found it to work.
3. Deciding
Even when I’m ready to make a decision, there may be doubt, fear, and worry.
It’s taken me years to get to a place where I trust my wisdom. When something feels right, I go for it.
So while this may sound like a formula, it’s far from it. This is what my process looks like most of the time.
Sometimes it looks completely different. I go with the flow.
The only thing I am loyal to when making decisions is listening to my inner GPS. That’s it.
I am the expert on my life.
And you are the expert on yours, even if you don’t always feel like it.
An Example
A practical example of this was when I was working on my book Do What You Love.
When you work on a book, you make hundreds of small decisions.
Should you rewrite or remove a sentence?
Should you add an example?
After a while, you don’t know what to do. So you take a break.
I’d worked on the book for months. It was almost done, but it was in the digital drawer. I was letting it simmer.
After almost two months, I began to wonder: “Will I ever finish this book?”
I didn’t try to force myself to work on it. I wanted to. Instead, I waited for the right moment. And funnily enough, the right moment came a few days later.
I felt drawn to read the first few chapters. The result of that was me rewriting and finishing 30% of the book within a few hours. And within a week, the book was done.
Takeaway
It’s hard to share how I make decisions, because it’s not a formula.
I wish it was. I wish I could make this easier for you, but the difficulty is a part of the learning process.
There are plenty of people selling formulas, but do they work?
Not for me. Not for most of the people I’ve spoken to.
What works is discovering your own process, your own wisdom.
You don’t do it all at once. You do it one decision at a time.
And you make plenty of mistakes.
Hope you have a fantastic day!
Henri
P.S. If you want to dive deeper into making decisions from your heart, check out my popular book, Follow Your Heart.
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I like your article a lot! Especially the waiting part was answer to my current situation in business life. Thanks for sharing these kind of great content. 🙂
Waiting is underestimated 😉
Great video Henri!
I wish you made more videos about this subject in the future 🙂
Thanks Dejan. I’ll see what I can do!
Brilliant, a constantly questioned topic.
I have to ask, what was making you giggle, even when you were talking about saddness, weird, but made me giggle too HA!
Like the bit about notice that your mind forces you to do things you dont want to do, that is a great firt step I feel.
That sentence in itself has 2 ‘you’s’ in it, but that again is part of it, learning to seperate yourself into you heart and your mind.
Awesome, thanks Henri.
To be honest, I don’t know. Sometimes a smile bubbles up from nowhere. Also it helps to realize that the sadness isn’t dangerous; it’s just a part of the ride.
Thanks Lewis!
Hi Henri
First of all, I’d like to congratulate you for your work. I’m from Brazil, I starded reading your posts last week. I didn’t know your blog and now I’m really enjoying, it’s very enlightening and helpful.
I’ve read all the articles about following our heart. I’ve heard this concept before and I’ve been trying to put it into practice for a while… but it’s so hard and I get so confused when I have to make a decision. Sometimes, I don’t know whether it’s really my heart, my inner GPS as you say, or my mind, my thoughts getting in the way and messing me around…
Sorry, I don’t know if I’m being clear enough… but do you understand what I mean? I have the sensation that my mind is “pretending” to be my heart… and I can’t recognize the difference. I sometimes think that I should do this or that, but I really don’t know if it’s the right decision or just something that I want to do, because I think it’s the right or the best way. So, how can I do it? How can I recognize the difference?
I know there isn’t a formula, but hope you can help me with that.
Thank you!
All the best!!
Hey Tatiana,
What worked for me was experimentation. You can’t really ‘figure it out’. You have to test and see which signal is the right one. It helps to not take it too seriously. Play with it, test the signals, and see what happens.
You can only do your best, and you’re already on the right track. Relax and enjoy.
And if you have more questions, ask away, or email me (so I can create more videos/articles on the topic) 🙂
Thank you Henri! I’ll try my best! 😉
What a powerful message! Thank you Henri!
Thank you!
I have found that patience has been such a key reason for me in making wise and smart decisions. Waiting can really do you wonders as you allow everything to settle in and become calm before deciding.
I am on my journey of finding out what works best for me right now. It is a continual process!
Wow Henri, I love your takeaway!
Formulas suck.
It’s exactly about your personal wisdom which is the effect of your experiences. I preach that all the time in my books.
What you do with writing a book is very good advice. Sometimes we are not able to see the needs in our own creation, until we put it on the shelf and forget it for awhile. In fact, even blog posts can be that way, but I won’t recommend waiting days to post them. That said, I have put a book on the shelf for 6 months, and when I went back to it, I was able to make it a much better book, because I instantly ‘saw’ what it needed, as if I were a stranger reading it. Thanks! Anne
Thank you Henri, your words are always peaceful comfort while navigating the maelstrom of online advice and guidance, and trying to make a liveable income! The further I go along, the more deeply I understand and can apply the truth in what you say.
Hi henry, thank you so much for your work and shared wisdom and guidance. I have read your book about finding my inner GPS besides reading your blogs and i resonate with everything you put out!
Thank you for helping me keep my focus on my passion and not on being safe, i have a HUGE issue with ALWAYS chosing safety instead of my passion and drive. So your work is really enlightning for me!
Thank you!
Life is a kind of hard on many people but if they can have their goal in their mind, they can remain happy.
Asking the question about the aim you’re having the thing you’re doing right now to get can change everything.
You really dug this concept which can make many people think about their career choice.
I like the quote by Albert Einstein.
All of this is so beautiful. All of it works. We have never been taught, or maybe most of us have never been taught to listen to our inner guide, our higher self. I am so amazed for all the years I have spent searching for wisdom to find it between my two ears, my heart and gut. Not that I don’t enjoy, love and appreciate all the wisdom available from outside sources, but it’s such a tremendous boost to one’s confidence, having this faith, trust in yourself, yourselves. Thank you and Love, Lynda
Absolutely, Lynda!
Hi Henri, your words are so wise and honest. Your energy is very calming.
What are your thoughts about waiting and being so patient with yourself during a difficult decision that nothing ends up happening?
This happens to me often. I don’t know which way to go or rather than deal with pain and fallout that may be a result of a decision, nothing happens which is not ideal.
Thank you,
S
Hey Steph,
It’s hard to say, but it sounds like you’re giving into fear, and never making a decision. You’re focused on the consequences so much that you paralyze yourself. Obviously, you don’t want to do foolish things, but life is uncertain. I never know what will happen. All I can do is follow what resonates, and do my best. I may be wrong of course, but that’s what comes to mind 🙂