Many people feel that their emotions hold them back from making the right decisions in their personal and professional lives. You don’t have to accept this, however there are some ways you can change your perspective to make your emotions work for your benefit.
It is important to learn how to leverage your emotions when making decisions. This will help you make empowered, confident decisions. These steps will help you to create a strategy that uses your emotions.
1. Confront the Source of Your Emotions
The first step to taking charge of your emotions is to investigate where they’re coming from. It’s important to think about which emotions can be used to your advantage and identify which emotions won’t serve you.
If you are able to identify when an emotion comes from an insecure place, it will be clear that your performance isn’t being accurately reflected by this feeling. This emotion can’t help you improve your future decision-making.
You can use guilt to help improve your performance in the future. You might feel guilty if you have been lazy for a few days and missed a deadline. This is a case where your guilt can be turned into a motivation to not make the same mistakes again.
“You cannot make progress without making decisions.” – Jim Rohn
2. Strategize Useful Emotions
Once you’ve determined which emotions can help you achieve your goals, it’s time to strategize your future decision-making.
Writing about the decision-making process is a great way to work through emotions. Then, come back to it in an hour to be objective. This helps you determine if your emotions affect your decision-making.
By being honest in the moment about your thought process, you’re saving time that you would have otherwise wasted trying to figure out if you’re thinking clearly. It’s much easier to get your thoughts out in the moment and revisit them later.
3. Evaluate the Impact of Your Emotions
When you’re making any routine changes, it’s important to frequently evaluate its efficacy. This is how you can optimize your emotional decision making.
It is important to take time after each project to evaluate the effectiveness of your strategies. Think about what you liked or didn’t like about your new strategies and choose to work towards one goal at a time.
Although it can feel frustrating when your emotions hold you back, remember that every person has to learn to manage their emotions. If you’re still feeling a bit lost, check out more strategies below about using your emotions to make confident decisions.