1. Take control of the Decision you need to make, think for yourself, and disconnect from a world that never stops talking.
"The most courageous act is still to think for yourself. Aloud."
-Coco Chanel
2. Storyboard the Decision you need to make: from beginning to end.
"Great things are done by a series of small things brought together."
-Vincent van Gogh
3. Spot and outsmart the traps you're falling into when you make your decisions. For example, the Emotional Trap: When our emotions are involved, we make poor Decisions.
"Between stimulus and response, there is a space.
-Attributed to Viktor E. Frankl
4. Follow your North Star: The GPS that reminds you of your purpose, values, and mission.
“Always follow your North Star. When you make a value-based decision, you deliver on what your brand stands for and send a powerful message at every level.”
- Stephan Mardyks
5. Listen to your intuition: The small voice inside of you (…. and it's not always words) should be the loudest voice you hear.
"Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.
They somehow know what you truly want to become."
-Steve Jobs
6. Develop a foresight mindset: If you are stuck in the past, you won’t see what’s new. Take into consideration the Plus and Minus of your Decision.
“I didn’t make up the problems,” I pointed out. ‘All I did was look around at the problems we’re neglecting now and give them about 30 years to grow into full-fledged disasters.”
- Octavia E. Butler
7. Forecast the financial impact of your Decision: It's always about the money.
“When they say it’s not about money, that means it’s all about money."
- George Young
8. Assess and mitigate your risk: Offense is the risks you're taking. Defense is the mitigation.
"Offense sells tickets, but defense wins championships."
-Bear Bryant
9. Validate your Decision with the people you trust and the most critical people you know.
"Have no fear of perfection - you'll never reach it."
- Salvador Dalí
10 Execute: Review the outcomes periodically and course correct along the way.
“Greatness is first and foremost a matter of conscious choice and discipline.”
-Jim Collins
PS. Be aware of the side-effect: People may ask if you have a crystal ball.