easy ways to Make Hard Decisions

Four steps that can take you from dwelling to reaching a conclusion

by LI ZZ SCH U M ER

These days, even deciding what to have for dinner can feel like a monumental task. So tackling the big stuff — Should I change jobs? Sell the house? End my relationship? — can seem downright impossible. There’s a reason for that: The stress and uncertainty of the past few years have left many of us with major decision fatigue. In a 2021 survey conducted by the Harris Poll on behalf of the American Psychological

Association, almost a third of adults said they were sometimes so stressed about the COVID-19 pandemic that they struggled to make basic decisions. “Change requires mental energy, and these past two-plus years have required constantly navigating change,” explains Rebecca Jackson, a board-certified cognitive specialist for Brain Balance, a brain and body wellness program for kids and adults. The good news is, a few surprisingly simple steps can help make the route forward a little clearer, no matter where you’re headed.

One decision-making technique that author and certified life coach Anita Kanti teaches her clients is BRAVE, an acronym for Beliefs, Readiness, Alignment, Vision and Engagement. The philosophy behind this starts with creating “benevoliefs” (a word Kanti coined), benevolent self-beliefs, to bestow helpful attitudes and assumptions. For example, someone contemplating a move to a new city should first believe they’re capable of thriving in a new place (benevolief); think about the steps needed to make the jump (readiness); figure out who and what else will be affected by the change, such as family members, career and finances (alignment); try to picture what getting to and living in a new city would feel like (vision) and then finally, if all that seems right, start working toward the move (engagement). “This way of thinking provides a road map for making decisions,” Kanti explains.

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