One of the most important skills that you can teach yourself in life is how to make smarter decisions. We are all decision makers. Each and every day, we are faced with hundreds of decisions whether we realize it or not. All of your activities and daily actions are a result of a decision that you make. If you want to live a better life then it’s your responsibility to make smart decisions so that you don’t have any regret later on. Your future is created by the things that you do each and every second of the day. The clock is ticking… want to learn how to make smarter choices and live a life free of regrets? Then follow these five tips!
1. Identify Your Goals
The first step to making smarter life choices is to identify what your life goals really are. Write down a list of things that you would like to accomplish in life before death. This could be marriage, getting a college degree, staying fit, or obtaining a good paying job. After, you’ve finished your list, write down a list of things that you can do that will help you accomplish your goals. If you want to land a higher paying job then maybe you should go to college. If you want to get married but you don’t have much experience with relationships then you should work on changing that. Or if you want to stay fit then make sure that you follow daily workout routines. Whatever it is that you want to get out of life, identifying your goals and focus more of your time and energy on them is the first step towards making smarter life choices.
2. Analyze The Pros and Cons
Now that you know exactly what you want to get out of life and you have a plan to accomplish your goals, you must examine the pros and cons of each of your daily actions. Ask yourself whether what you are doing right now, each and every day, is enough to accomplish your goals? Ask yourself whether you’re doing too much and should cut back or whether you’re doing too little?
When it comes to accomplishing a goal, it’s important that you find the right balance between life duties such as work/education and leisure activities such as goals/hobbies. You don’t want to neglect either one as they are both equally important. Make sure that each of your daily actions are intended to help you accomplish your goals or make you a better person.
3. Learn From Your Mistakes
In order to make smarter decisions in life, you are going to have to learn from your own mistakes. Everyone has made a mistake in the past, whether big or small. Nobody’s perfect. Instead of putting yourself down for your past mistakes, you should take the time to learn from them. It’s best that you learn from your mistakes now instead of making the same mistake again! You never know when you might be faced with a similar challenge, so don’t overlook learning from a mistake.
4. Learn From Other People’s Mistakes
Not only is it important that you learn from your own mistakes but you should also take a look at other people and learn from things that they’ve done wrong. If you only focus on your own mistakes, you are limiting yourself from learning how to avoid mistakes that other people have made that you could make in the future. You should talk to people who are older than you and learn what they did wrong or regret in their lives so that you will be better prepared and avoid having the same fate.
5. Follow Your Intuition
Follow your gut feeling or the voice inside of your head. If you feel that what you are doing is right then don’t hesitate, question yourself or let other people question you, just keep on doing it. If you feel that what you are doing is wrong or is negatively affecting your life then stop doing it. Things such as excessive drug usage, playing video games, walking alone at night, or eating unhealthy are things that you should avoid if you want live a life without regrets. Other things such as talking to your crush, going the extra mile at school or work, or wanting to help somebody are good things that you should be doing more often.
And remember, making smarter life decisions isn’t just about knowing whats right or wrong, it’s about actually doing what is right. The more things that you do in life that are right, the less regrets you will have. And not only is life about what you do, it’s also about what you don’t do. In life, not doing anything at all is just as bad as doing the wrong things.
“A life spent making mistakes it only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing.” – George Bernad Shaw
