Stress Management Tips: Stress and Decision Making

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Is it generally difficult for you to make a decision? Do you feel stress? How do you feel when you are confronted with a particularly hard one to make?

Making tough choices can be stressful—but worry not! It is possible to reduce stress and anxiety while solving problems and making difficult decisions.

Success in almost any undertaking requires that you engage in risk-taking. With each risk comes the element of fear, which naturally prompts stress. How you respond to this stress often makes the difference between success and failure.

How you respond to the fear often makes the difference between success and failure.

If you cower before making a tough decision, you will have a negative disposition. If you meet a decision boldly, letting it motivate you to action, your success in decision-making increases.

Think of the founding of the United States of America. The country was built on risk. The idea that people could govern themselves was a unique concept in the 1700’s. At that time a king, feudal lord, or someone who had power over people governed in every country or civilization on earth. The risk that our founding fathers took altered the history of the world. Obviously, they had a positive outlook for their decision. They turned the world upside down with the idea that mankind was capable of governing itself—that the power rests in the people, who in turn, create governments to represent them.

Think of a decision you have made in your life that turned out to be successful. Reflect! Did you go into it with a negative or positive disposition? Chances are that your success depended, at least in part, on your attitude when you made the decision.

The process of growing and learning always involves risk and, therefore, stress. Everything from the smallest entrepreneurial business to our space program was built on risk.

So, when making a hard or tough decision, use the following perspective: Ask yourself, “What would be the worst thing that could happen?” If you can live with the worst that could happen, then it becomes easier to make the decision and your stress will be reduced.

Tip: Be bold and confident in your decisions because with the risk comes the reward.

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