EVERYDAY MENTOR

Andrew Gray

Hello Reader

Welcome back to the Everyday Mentor newsletter after my short break.

It's great to be writing to you again. It's also great to be doing so, on the other side of a short break.

This newsletter is all about strengthening your Inner-Life Health & Sustainability. In that regard, I try to 'practice what I preach'

Taking short breaks from writing is just as important as actually writing.

You see, the joy of life is in the contrast. We are wired for it.

Even things we love, can wear us down if we don't take respite from time to time.

At all cost, avoid the rantings of the pseudo-gurus who tell you to 'never waste a single second' and stay in productivity mode 24/7/365.

This is a false narrative that only leads to burnout and unhappiness.

"A Framework For Better Decision Making"

Without question this skill (it is not a gift, which means you can learn and improve), is at the epicentre of what brings us peace in life.

Poor decision making often leads to an increase in anxiety and depression, frustration, and generally an absence of joy and peace.

Naturally, we want to avoid that whenever possible. This vital part of our experience in life is all about controlling what is within our control.

Circumstances always come with variables, however, the way in which we respond, and the decisions we make are very much within our control.

Wise decisions contribute to present day success, as well as inoculating us against tomorrow's trouble.

As mentioned above, anybody can get better at decision making.

Here are 5 tips you can employ to improve the outcomes that result from the decisions you make;

NEVER make major decisions when you are emotionally stirred up - Whether you are in a moment of anger, sadness, feeling revengeful or unforgiving, or some other exacerbated emotional state . . . This is not the time for big decisions.
Learn to identify the presence of peace in your soul - When we are 99% certain about a decision we are making, this is a good time to try and locate peace in our soul when we think about our choice. The presence of peace will be marked by the absence of anxiety. If peace is present, it's a positive sign. If anxiety is still around, take some extra time to process your decision before committing.
In 'minor' every day decisions, try to 'take a beat' - In other words, when our days are filled with stressful situations, as they often are, we can feel pressured to churn through all kinds of decisions at the same tempo as the stress that surrounds us. However, even though getting one tiny decision wrong in the midst of stress is not a big deal, if we keep doing that all day long, there will be a compounding and multiplying effect of lots of little decisions 'mis-firing'. I find the simplest way to take a beat, is to take a deep breath. Stop, breathe, decide.
Make progress in surrounding yourself with your version of wise counsel - We all need good people around us throughout our lives for many reasons. Better decision making is just one of those reasons. If we can learn to make WHO our default instead of how, we will have access to a collective knowledge bank that will assist our decision making tremendously. The best way to choose individuals that can belong to your wise counsel group, is two-fold. Firstly, are they proven in their own life. Secondly, do they display a commitment to your best outcomes.
Make certain to always deploy the learnings of feedback loops - Simply this means that we need to evaluate the outcomes of our decisions and review the process that led us to that outcome. Whether the result is good, bad or indifferent, it is beneficial to look back and take stock of what we were faced with, the research and counsel we undertook, the reason we reached the decision that we did, and the outcome that our process produced. From this point, we can make adjustments to our process in order to continually improve our outcomes.

What other items would you add to this list? Email me and let me know.

Lastly, a great big thank you to everyone who continues to read and enjoy the Everyday Mentor articles, as well as a super warm welcome to the many new subscribers that have joined us in the past 2 weeks.

You will hear from me again next Tuesday afternoon (Sydney time)

Until then, take care!