First rule of decision making: More time does not create better decisions. In fact, it can decrease the quality of your decision. Decision-making challenges often leave people stuck. Below are 5 easy tools you can use immediately when faced with a making a tough choice.

Consider how important the decision is and how much attention it really deserves. If you spend all your time worrying about it, you may miss the opportunity that it offers altogether!

Informed Decision: Gathering the right data in order to make your decision is often the very first step. If the decision warrants it, learn what you need to know first. Maybe you are choosing between several options. Limit your decision to just a select few, and decide from there. Trying to learn about every single option out there may mean never having time to make the decision OR make use of the item you were trying to select in the first place. While more information may help, dragging out the process without a deadline will create anxiety, not results.

Pros & Cons List: Writing down a list of the benefits as well as the consequences of a decision can often point us in the direction to head when it’s a close call.

Consider Projected Outcomes: Similar to listing pros and cons, often listing what the outcome of each decision would be can help us choose the best scenario for our situation.

Create a Deadline: Taking forever to decide on something can literally lead to the opportunity disappearing, or can result in feeling overwhelmed. Circumvent this by giving yourself a deadline. Put it in your calendar and plan out the steps needed to come to a conclusion. Deciding now frees up your most valuable asset: time.

Use a Mind-Map: These allow you to put all the aspects about the decision in a visual image so your mind stops going around in circles. Often the decision will almost make itself once it’s out of your head.

Begin today and make every decision as soon as you have a reasonable amount of information. Decision making is a skill that with practice becomes easier over time.

Contributed by Juli Shulem (jshulem@gmail.com/805-964-2389), Efficiency/ ADHD Coach. www.julishulem.com, Efficiency Expert since 1984, and author of the eBook, Order! A Logical Approach to an Organized Way of Life, www.getordernow.com