Decisiveness is insight in action. It’s the ability to know what’s right and, just as important, it’s the willingness to do what’s right. A. R. Bernard
Decision Making is Key
You do know that God and your spouse want you to be a mature man, right? We talked about maturity and what it means to be mature in the last post. Today we’re moving to the next characteristic; Decisiveness. We don’t want to be people that struggle with decision making. We don’t want to let fear grip us and bring our lives to a standstill because we are afraid to make a decision.
Being indecisive can lead you to be an emotional mess. People who have a people-pleasing mindset can easily find themselves like this. They are so focused on pleasing everyone that they miss God and then end up doing nothing because they don’t want to disappoint anyone.
Moving from being indecisive to decisive isn’t hard. Like most things in life, it takes time and dedication, but it can be done. To make decisions quickly and then act on them requires a couple of things:
Values
What do you stand for? Your values are the things that you live for and the things you’re willing to die for. These things are most important to you. This isn’t something you answer on a job application; your values are the real you because they reflect the things you do, not the things you say.
Principles
These show you how to apply your values and how to accomplish your goals. Every social media expert, rant on Facebook, news personality, and all those in-between will tell you principles to live your life. This is something you have to decide.
A lot of this can be hard to figure out. Especially when we are first starting, or we are trying to change our lives to move in a different direction. Moving the needle can be done, but even that starts with an honest look at ourselves.
I’m in the process of this now. I want to move my life and my family in a new direction. There are writing projects and businesses that I want to be able to do, that requires me to set the foundation of my values and principles now. If I don’t do it now, other people or opportunities will try to set them for me.
When you know your values and can stick to your principles, making decisions becomes easier and easier. Will you be able to please everyone? No. Will everyone agree with your decisions? No. But, operating according to your values and principles will help you to develop into a person of integrity and it will make you a good leader.
Discussion Question:
Do you struggle with being decisive?
