Making Difficult Decisions Easier – #4 Wait and Watch

I know, right! Am I telling you to delay those difficult decisions as a technique? Well, yes, I am. Wait and watch can be one of the most powerful tools in your decision-making toolkit. This method is not about procrastinating on those difficult decisions. Procrastinating is avoiding making any decision, that’s definitely not what you want. Avoidance will only amplify any stress and overwhelm that will have come with the difficult decision. The trick is to wait and watch with a clear intention of evaluating the circumstances as things unfold around this decision. Here are the steps to help you avoid procrastinating and engage the wait and watch technique.

1. Is it worthy?

First, consider your decision and make sure it’s worth the wait. Look at the possible consequences. If they are significant enough, wait and watch is the technique to use. If not, use one of the other methods #1 List Making, #2 Ask an Outsiders Opinion or #3 Make it Real. The risk of using the wait and watch method on things that aren’t worthwhile is you’ll be doing a lot of unnecessary thinking about the outcome and wasting time and energy worrying.

2. Set up a reminder

This is an essential step to stop avoidance and procrastination on difficult decisions. You’ve decided this decision is best dealt with a wait and watch attitude. Things need to unfold a little more before you can jump in. To keep this decision on the front burner, add a reminder to your diary or phone calendar or even set it as a task in your email system. Choose the appropriate time frame depending on the type of decision needing to be made. The diary reminder brings your attention to this decision and ensures you check in and further evaluate the situation. Schedule another reminder from here if the time is still not right.

3. D-Day

You can’t wait and watch forever so you must have an approximate date set for D-Day, Decision Day. Without the end target to aim for you could find yourself in a worse situation than if you just made the decision previously. Missed opportunities are one thing we will always beat ourselves up over.