Do you know what you want for Christmas?
Do you know what you want for Christmas?
Shinell is a great gift-giver. So is my mom. They pay attention, they listen, they pick things up and use what they learn to give the perfect gift. I’m not good at it. The best you can expect from me is a gift voucher or perfume. With Christmas just over a month away, I’ve started thinking about what gifts to give to my favourite people two months ago. And still I don’t have good answers!
Except for my son. He knows exactly what he wants: An Audio-Technica turntable. He has been sending me links since January. It cannot be any old turntable – I need to know the model number, colour combination, everything!
It’s a good position to be in when you know exactly what you want, for Christmas and in life, don’t you think?
Over the past weeks, I’ve been involved in multiple conversations about important choices: Which job opportunities should I pursue? Who should I go into business with? Who should I date and how seriously? None of these questions has a simple answer. Whenever I find myself in these conversations, I make it abundantly clear that I’m not in the business of telling people what to do. I have no skin in the game. The person making the decision has to live with the consequences. But I can offer suggestions on how to think about your decisions:
- The perfect choice does not exist: Your life is not a tightrope that requires you to make a lifetime of perfect steps to be successful. Every life has ups and downs, and every decision you make has pros and cons. So start by taking the pressure off yourself to think that you have to make the perfect choice. It does not exist.
- Consider your values: Perks, benefits, titles, and looks are great, but they won’t satisfy you for long when you are required to sell your soul. Whenever you have to decide on who to partner with – be that a business or team, or a professional, or a personal relationship, do your best to figure out whether there is good alignment between your values and theirs.
- Think about what you really want: We often want to make decisions in a way that keeps the other options open; one job offers more flexibility, but the other one has more learning opportunities; he is handsome and funny, but the other guy has blue eyes. You get the picture. Consider what really matters and make your decision accordingly – at this stage of your life, do you need more flexibility or responsibility? No one option is likely to tick all the boxes, so choose the one that ticks the most important boxes.
- Trust your gut: This sounds like such a cop-out thing to say, but first instincts are often accurate. Deep down, we know what to do, but then overthinking kicks in, and we look for reasons and rationalisations everywhere. “When you know you know” might show you the way to go.
- Timing matters: Lastly, as a general rule, I encourage the people I care for not to make big decisions when they are tired or overly emotional. This time of year, most of us are pretty gatvol and run the risk of doing things we might regret in the cold light of day. If possible, wait until you are in a more sober state of mind.
Thank you for reading. We always appreciate your time and attention. If you are standing before a big decision, I genuinely hope you make a good (and not a perfect) one. Please share this with anyone who could benefit from it.
We would love to hear your thoughts, get in touch. You can reach us at info@purposeworks.co.za.
At PurposeWorks we are all about Making You and Your Work Rock. Our focus is on Organisational Health and Design, Employee Centered Culture, Leadership Development and Performance Coaching. For more information on how we can help you create a work environment that rocks, develop a great team, become an inspiring leader or unlock your personal excellence talk to us at info@purposeworks.co.za.
