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How Can One Make The Best Decision

One of the questions I always get from people around me is..."What do I do now? How do I decide?" Such a common cry...

Decisions ...
they can drive us mad
they can bring us to grief
they can drive our successes...

Yet so many people don't know how to make the right decisions.

But is there a single formula for 'making the right decision'? Unfortunately...no.

I only know what works for me, which is usually a combination of approaches.

The first thing I do is pray to God for guidance. (religious approach)
The second is to gather as much info about the issue as I can from books, people etc. The idea is to reach some sort of 'critical mass'... (common sense approach)
The third is list down all my choices from 1 to 10 and start writing out the consequences for each choice. (classic counselling approach)
The fourth is cross out the 'dumb' or 'crazy' choices that have unacceptable consequences.
The fifth is pray ... and go to sleep. (Roslyn's approach)

By morning, the choice to make will always be obvious to me.

So then, I take the sixth step. I go around and ask friends for their opinions.
In the end, I confirm my choice...which is usually what I decided in the first place, though not always. So what is the point in asking people? Nothing... I just wanted to hear their opinions. And I wanted to see if their rationalizations would sway my thinking.

But, of course, the worst thing to do...is not to make any decision at all.
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