Introduction

We’re not always aware what mental process we use for making decisions.

This short but comprehensive checklist will enlighten your process for making decisions, and it will add new strategies to your decision-making repertoire.

I know this checklist works, because I use it regularly to help my coaching clients make decisions. And I frequently use it in my own decision-making process.

Please feel free to print the checklist and keep it as a resource for the future!

(This list is adapted from the book, Coaching Questions by Tony Stoltzfus.)

1. Prayer

• Pray before doing any of the strategies for making decisions.
• Ask God to show you whether He has a specific answer for your decision, or if He wants you to grow and gain confidence from making your own decision!

2. Rational

• What are the pros and cons of making the decision way or another?
• This is where many people start when making decisions, but rationality alone is not enough!

3. Intuitive

• What does your gut tell you about making the decision?
• Your gut can be right or wrong, but it can be dangerous to ignore your gut completely!

4. Relational

• How will this decision help or hurt the important people in your life?
• It’s important to consider others, but don’t forget God’s wisdom and your own health.

5. Identity

• How do your own priorities, values, and goals impact making the decision?
• Do any of those priorities, values, and goals need to change?

6. Adaptive

• Do you need to delay the decision for any reason?
• Perhaps you need more info, research, opinions, conversations, etc.?
• Be extra cautious about important decisions that must be made immediately, especially with limited information or under unusual emotional duress.

7. Counsel

• What do the important people in your life think about the decision: family, friends, mentors, your team?
• Ask them for their prayerful opinions, but take responsibility for your own decisions.

8. Negative drives

• What unhealthy fears, hurts, insecurities, addictions, etc., might be influencing your decision?
• Be aware of these, and minimize their influence.

9. Cost/Risk/Benefit

• What will it cost, in resources and time, if you decide one way or the other?
• What is the cost if you don’t decide at all?
• What are the risks of deciding one way or another?
• What are the benefits of deciding one way or another?
• How could you minimize the risks and maximize the benefits in the decision?

10. Spiritual

• Of course, all decisions are spiritual for the Christ follower!
• What decision best aligns with your faith?
• What decision best aligns with who God has created you to be?
• If you clearly sense God leading you in one direction, follow it.
• But if you sense no clear direction from God, He might be okay either way! Maybe He is giving you the freedom to grow your identity and confidence!

What about you?

• What decision is currently on your plate?
• What clarity did you gain by running your decision through each bullet point above?

Feel free to comment or ask questions below.