What do you do when you have a problem to solve or a difficult decision to make?
Personally, I use a super effective tool: my decision journal.
You surely remember that iconic scene from the movie "Dead Poets Society".
When Robin Williams asks his students to stand on their desks to see things from another angle?
When I put my problem in my journal, it's as if I were standing on my desk.
I see it from a new angle.
With more perspective.
More distance.
I also leave less chance for my subconscious and my emotions to interfere with me.
It remains just as mysterious to me to see how my problems immediately become clearer.
How quickly solutions emerge.
If I don't think by writing, my mind wanders.
It goes around in circles.
I end up with the same unresolved problem.
Sometimes even with my problem plus others as well.
A few months ago, I wrote this in my journal:
"I am exhausted, I haven't taken a vacation in over 16 months, I work 70 hours a week, and I can't even manage to do half of what I should be doing. What are the solutions?"
I listed what I had done over the previous 4 weeks that could have consumed 280 hours of my life.
I compared all these actions with my goal journal.
Conclusion: despite all these hours worked, I had absolutely not moved my business toward the goals I had set for myself.
In short, not only was I completely exhausted, but I was completely off track!
But, from my notes, an idea emerged.
An idea taken from a book.
It changed my life!
How to use your decision journal?
- state your problem clearly
- write everything that comes to mind without stopping. Without any censorship. Our brain sometimes makes connections that seem ridiculous but can ultimately be pearls of wisdom.
- once you have nothing left to write, reread. Are there interesting things, or things that would be worth digging into further?
- perhaps you will need to make a positive/negative or pros/cons list, or perhaps it would be useful to highlight certain points to identify a guideline?
- then try to identify a strategy
- note the essential points
- dig deeper until you feel that you have fully explored the issue and that you have all the cards in hand to make a decision.
- Decide, then put an action plan in place!
Why a notebook and not just a sheet of paper?
A sheet of paper is easily lost, whereas a notebook is an archive that is easy to keep and then flip through.
You will be able to find and reuse ideas even several years later.
It will even be a pleasure in a few years to reread what was worrying you during a certain period of your life.
You might even be able to reuse solutions you had implemented.
Keeping a decision journal makes a huge difference on a life scale.
Making the right decisions is fundamental because the consequences of a non-decision or a bad decision are often very heavy.
And you, do you have a decision journal?
What is your way of making strategic decisions in your life? Do you think you will start using your decision journal right now?
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