How to overcome a 'Bad Decision' quickly.
Posted on December 16, 2019 by Anil Kulkarni, One of Thousands of Life Coaches on Noomii.
Have you ever felt Powerless after taking a bad decision? It is said that the more mistakes you
make, the more successful you become.
That might be true, but you must first deal with your bad decisions enabling you to move forward.
There’re steps you can take to make the most of your poor decisions. If you can benefit from your poor decisions, life is easy!
Unfortunately, our natural instincts make it challenging to benefit from poor choices. We become
upset, distracted, withdraw, feel embarrassed, or give up altogether.
When you can benefit from poor decisions, there are no poor decisions!
Consider the following strategies to overcome bad decisions:
1. Learn the lesson. Every bad decision has a lesson to teach. It can be regretful to examine
your poor choices & lead to sulking. Do you know what’s even more regretful? Making
the same mistake again. Regret & sulking are negative while learning is positive.
2. Move on. There’s nothing to be gained by dwelling on your mistakes. A poor decision that
you’ve never made before isn’t a bad thing. It’s just life. Just shake it off.
3. Take responsibility. You were part of the problem. There’s no getting around it. Taking
responsibility allows you to retain control of the situation. You made the mess, so you
can fix it.
4. Talk it out. If you can’t let go of your mistake, spend some time talking with a loyal friend.
An outsider often has a more reasonable perspective. Pick up the phone and give someone
– your friend, philosopher or coach – a call.
5. Stay present. It’s easy to let your mind run wild & see yourself as a culprit after making a
poor choice. There’s nothing to see there. Let it remain in the HISTORY. Allowing your
mind to wander into the history is just a form of distraction. Pay attention to what is
happening right now.
6. Take preventative measures in the future. How can you prevent a similar occurrence in
the future? Did you put yourself into a situation where no good option existed? Or did you
merely make the wrong call?
7. Remember what you still have. You may have lost a good deal or a valuable contact, but
that doesn’t have to be the end of the world. Take a moment to remind yourself of the
amazing things & people you still have supporting you in your life.
8. Forgive yourself. Everyone makes more than a few mistakes. It’s impossible to always
make perfect decisions. Accepting it & forgiving yourself lifts the burden of you.
9. Remember that your next good decision will feel that much better. A vacation only feels good because you contrast it with work. Spend six months on a vacation and see how excited you still are. Your bad decisions make your good decisions that much more enjoyable.
10. You are NOT your decisions. Remember this all the time. You are separate from the decisions you make. Bad choices don’t make you bad any more than good decisions make you good. Your decisions don’t define you. Your individuality is way beyond your decisions.
Bad decisions aren’t all that bad after all. In fact, you can benefit from all your previous bad decisions right now. Make a list of every poor decision you’ve ever made. Now, go through the process of learning from each of them. What are the lessons you can learn? Imagine if you had done this same process after each mistake was made. Your life would be very different.
Thomas Alwa Edison famously said “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work” Isn’t that POWERFUL?
Everyone makes bad decisions. The key is to make the most of them. Spend a few minutes each week reviewing your bad choices and learn from them. Most importantly, avoid repeating them. Move on from your bad decisions and benefit from them.
