A man just got married and was returning home with his wife. They were crossing a lake in a boat, when suddenly a great storm arose. The man was a warrior, but the woman became very much afraid because it seemed almost hopeless.

The boat was small and the storm was really huge, and any moment they were going to be drowned. But the man sat silently, calm and quiet, as if nothing was happening.

The woman was trembling and she said, “Are you not afraid? This may be our last moment of life! It doesn’t seem that we will be able to reach the other shore. Only some miracle can save us; otherwise death is certain. Are you not afraid? Are you mad or something? Are you a stone or something?”

The man laughed and took the sword out of its sheath. The woman was even more puzzled: What he was doing? Then he brought the naked sword close to the woman’s neck, so close that just a small gap was there, it was almost touching her neck.

He said, “Are you afraid?”

She started to laugh and said, “Why should I be afraid? If the sword is in your hands, why I should be afraid? I know you love me.”

He put the sword back and said, “This is my answer. I know God loves me, and the storm is in His hands.”

SO WHATSOEVER IS GOING TO HAPPEN IS GOING TO BE GOOD. If we survive, good; if we don’t survive, good, because everything is in His hands and He cannot do anything wrong.

Develop Faith. This is the faith which one needs to imbibe, and which is capable of transforming your whole life. Any less won’t do!

Do you find yourself spending too much time pondering and not enough time getting things done? You are not alone. A study from the University of Michigan found that 52% of adults in the age group of 45 to 55 years tend to overthink. This percentage is even higher in the age group of 25 to 35 years – as high of 73%.

The most successful people make decisions quickly and stick with them. The less successful ones take too long to decide and quickly change their mind afterwards.

Research has also found that most people who overthink believe that they are being responsible and cautious by taking their time to decide, but they are actually shooting themselves in the foot. There is no evidence to suggest that ruminating excessively on a decision results in a better outcome.

Overthinking actually results in a waste of time and lowers your confidence. How about making up your mind and getting on with your life? Here are some steps that can help you to make decisions confidently without unnecessary overthinking:

 

 

1. List down the pros and cons.

“When I look back on all these worries, I remember the story of the old man who said on his deathbed that he had had a lot of trouble in his life, most of which had never happened.” – Winston Churchill

Write down the advantages and disadvantages of the alternatives that you are considering for your decision making. Even better, use mindmapping as a tool to help to arrive at a decision. There is something magical about taking pen to paper when making decisions. By the time you are done, you will have a better idea of the right direction to take.

 

2. Be aware of and operate from your own core values.

“When you’ve had a life of overthinking, you have the same reaction time and time again. Shyness becomes habitual. When you’re put in an unfamiliar situation, all you want to do is retreat and hide by default. You watch but don’t participate. You listen but don’t respond. You read, but rarely comment. You take a photo, but you rarely post. You write, but you rarely publish. All of this is because your overthinking mind cannot stop thinking about how you will be perceived by the outside world.” – Joel Annesley

Decisions are more quickly and easily made when you know your core values. When you consider a choice, test it against your core values. Often, these choices aren’t the easiest, but are in your best interests.

 

3. Remember that you have the flexibility to always change your mind.

“Take time to deliberate, but when the time for action has arrived, stop thinking and go in.” – Napoleon Bonaparte

There are few, if any, decisions you must stick with until your deathbed. Just knowing that you can change your mind later can give you the comfort needed to decide. It’s not possible to predict the future with 100% accuracy anyway.

 

4. Avoid paralysis by analysis.

“Thinking too much leads to paralysis by analysis. It’s important to think things through, but many use thinking as a means of avoiding action.” – Robert Herjavek

Overanalyzing doesn’t lead to better results. It leads to inactivity and confusion. The Armed Forces have a rule that you only need to be 70% certain to act. Even though you may not be in the military, the same principle applies to you. Often, the window of opportunity closes before the last 30% of the information can be gathered.

 

5. Think both short-term and long-term.

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” – Mark Twain

Ask yourself whether you’ll be happy with your decision in 15 minutes, 15 days, 15 months as well as in 15 years. Any decision that meets these criteria is a great decision.

 

6. Stay occupied.  

“Don’t brood. Get on with living and loving. You don’t have forever.” – Leo Buscaglia

Those that overthink often have the luxury of too much free time. Busy people make decisions quicker because they don’t have the time to brood over every decision. Be more active in general. You’ll find it easier to make decisions in a timely fashion. Exercise is one way to stay busy. You don’t overthink when your body is tired.

 

7. Set a timer to make decisions.

“We can easily manage if we will only take, each day, the burden appointed to it. But the load will be too heavy for us if we carry yesterday’s burden over again today, and then add the burden of the morrow before we are required to bear it.” – John Newton

Most decisions don’t require weeks, or even days, to make. A couple of hours is more than sufficient most the time. Use a timer and put some focus on the issue. When you hear the alarm, it’s time to decide. A timer is an effective way to narrow your focus.

To sum up, keep in mind that a Good Decision Now is better than a Great Decision Later.

“In a moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing to do, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing.” – Theodore Roosevelt

 

I am reminded of a famous dialogue of Amitabh Bachchan:

“Itna mat soch… Soch gehri ho jaaye, Toh faisle kamzor ho jaate hai”

Translation: “Don’t think so much… As you think deeper, your decisions become weaker”

 

What are you waiting for? Success is more about making decent decisions and working hard than it is about making awesome decisions. Avoid overestimating the value of perfection and underestimating the value of action.

Knowing what not to do is as important as knowing what to do. I recently stumbled upon an article on CNBC, talking about 13 things you should give up if you want to be successful. The article doesn’t only talk about what to give up, but it also touches upon what practices and mindset to adopt in lieu of these 13 things.

Are you ready to let go of these 13 things?

1. Give up on an Unhealthy Lifestyle. Focus on a healthy diet and regular physical activity.

2. Give up the Short Term Mindset. Focus on those short term habits that result in the achievement of long term goals.

3. Give up on Playing Small. Unleash your true potential by taking newer and greater opportunities that allow your dreams to become realities.

4. Give up your Excuses. Take responsibility for your life and your results. Own your life because no one else will.

5. Give up the Fixed Mindset. Acquire new knowledge, learn new skills and change your perception so that it can benefit your life.

6. Give up Believing in the “Magic Bullet”. Make small continual improvements every day that compound over time to give the desired results.

7. Give up your Perfectionism. Get started first and then improvise. Version One is better than Version None.

8. Give up Multi-tasking. Be fully present and committed to one task at a time.

9. Give up your Need to Control Everything. Detach from the things you cannot control, and focus on the ones you can. The only thing you will be able to control is your attitude towards anything.

10. Give up on Saying YES to Distractions. Say NO to those tasks, activities and other demands that do not support your goals.

11. Give up the Toxic People. Spend time with people who are more accomplished than you.

12. Give up Your Need to be Liked. Remain authentic, improve and provide value every day.

13. Give up Your Dependency on Social Media and Television. Direct that time towards things that can enrich your life.

One of my usual practices is to create a mindmap of useful content. Mind Map is a powerful thinking tool, which also helps you to summarise content in a manner that facilitates recall. This mindmap would give you a quick snapshot of the above pointers.

Which were the top 3 out of these 13, that resonated with you the most? And which ones are the toughest for you to let go? Do comment and share below.

For more powerful and relevant articles and secrets on enhancing your Wealth, Wisdom and Wellness, follow me on my personal blog https://w3coach.com/blog/ now.

Click here to connect with Your W3 Coach across all digital platforms.

People have often asked me what is GTD all about. Getting Things Done, appropriately called as the art of stress-free productivity, conceptualised by David Allen, contains the methodology to control the flow of your life’s work.

The GTD methodology is focused on the Mind, which in today’s age of information overload, is more chaotic than ever. The most appropriate state of mind is metaphorically related to the state of water, which simply responds to any external stimulus appropriately and returns to its normal state thereafter.

This state of appropriate engagement is the outcome that can be achieved through the GTD methodology based on the principle that:

“Your mind is for having ideas, and not for holding ideas”.

The GTD methodology is a simple yet comprehensive 5 step process to control the flow of your life’s work:

1. Capture

Capture anything and everything that has your attention. Capture happens all the time (24 hrs x 365 days) in 3 broad ways – physical, electronic and mental.

2. Clarify

Clarify mentally or Process what each captured item means to you. This includes deciding on what’s actionable and what’s not, what’s the next action and what’s the desired outcome.

3. Organise

Organise the clarified items physically into buckets or categories where meaning matches location. Here is where a trusted system gets created for all the stuff in your life.

4. Reflect

Reflect on your system on a regular basis to get a higher perspective, so that you are able to stay clear, current and creative. The recommended frequency is weekly review.

5. Engage

Engage into the most appropriate action at the right time, by deciding your priorities. The GTD methodology covers 3 models of deciding priority – limiting criteria, horizons of focus and threefold nature of work.

Here is a summary of the 5 step GTD Methodology presented through a mind map.

 

The TIME magazine had aptly hailed this book as “the definitive business self-help book of the decade” when it was first published about fifteen years ago. The Getting Things Done (GTD) methodology is based more on attention management rather than time management techniques. As David Allen puts it,

“If you don’t pay appropriate attention to what has your attention, it will take more of your attention than it deserves.”

I have been personally following this methodology since 2006, years before I became Mumbai’s First Certified GTD Trainer in 2016, when I pledged to share this powerful learning with the world.

Wish to know more about the life-transforming GTD methodology?

Here are your options:

Option A. Read the Bible of Productivity by clicking on the book below:

Option B. Attend the next GTD workshop in your nearest city

Click here to get updated about the workshop schedule

Cheers to Stress-free Productivity!

Even a masterpiece like Sholay wasn’t spared from criticism when it was released. I wonder what this critic had to say after witnessing it’s record breaking success.

 

Are you giving in to nay-sayers or are you working relentlessly on the ultimate masterpiece that is YOU with firm belief in your self-worth?

For more powerful and relevant articles and secrets on enhancing your Wealth, Wisdom and Wellness, follow me on my personal blog https://w3coach.com/blog/ now.

Click here to connect with Your W3 Coach across all digital platforms.