Making Difficult Decisions Easier – #1 The List Maker

We all do it, don’t we? We get bogged down in the detail of making difficult decisions. The more significant negative impact happens when there is no decision. The time that passes can never be brought back. This is why no decision is worse than making a decision that wasn’t quite right. Do you agree? This blog series explores the different skills in making difficult decisions, especially for organising and simplifying our home and life while managing an ADHD brain. By putting these into practice, you will feel more settled and confident and move towards making difficult decisions.

Method 1 The List Maker

This is one of the most commonly used and perhaps considered old-fashioned methods for making difficult decisions easier. But to be honest, this is an essential tool for anyone with even the slightest tendency to write.

You don’t want to dismiss the amazing power of writing a list to decipher choices and get to the real heart of an issue or need.

It’s true for me that as soon as I put pen to paper, things start to become real and, in some magical way, take on their own life. This is incredibly helpful when you feel too close to a decision or emotionally attached to the outcome. For someone with ADHD, it can be a way to support emotional regulation and working memory, both executive functions that are taxed in these decision-making hurdles.

Having thoughts in the form of words on paper can show the reality of the situation. There is no escaping convoluted reasoning running through my mind.

When you have it in front of you in black and white, clarity starts to emerge. It’s not just me that feels this way. Studies (as well as my own observations with clients) support the good old list-maker method.

Some evidence suggests that the act of handwriting forces our minds to organise our thoughts and feelings as we go. This affects how we interpret the information.

I have witnessed this positive effect so often that I now encourage clients to write as much as possible. When organising and simplifying your home and life, you’ll need the skill of decision-making. The only wrong decision is the one that is never made.

Choosing what you want to eliminate from your life and home will be tied up with quite a bit of emotional attachment. Having a straightforward method for decisions will support you through the process.

Start with one of the most effective and easiest methods right away.

Types of lists you could use for making difficult decisions easier:

• The Pros and Cons List – helps to get very clear black-and-white results
• Process List – write a list where, if the decision equals “X”, then the result is “Y” for each scenario
• Mind Map – I suppose this is not a literal list, but it has the same effect for those who are more lateral thinkers. It also works well for visual processors.
• Quadrant Map – is somewhere between a list and a mind map. Give each quadrant a value and fill in the various items of the decision that will affect the area.

Watch my video for an example of how you might set up a decision-making quadrant map.