No matter where you are in life or how many difficult things you have done in the past, the present you will still come across many such decisions where you will have to make a hard choice. It is not necessarily hard because you are afraid of the task itself but it is hard because often times you cannot bring yourself to see the benefits of going through with that decision. After all, any decision that is worthwhile would require some kind of sacrifice from your end. This is why it is an important decision for you in the first place. The obvious way to make that decision is by weighing down both the pros and cons, however, that would not work in many cases. That is especially true when you are quite comfortable in your current routine in life.
The way to go through this tricky situation is by understanding what it is exactly that stops you from making the choice to sacrifice your current routine. Is it because you are afraid of what the future would entail or is it just because you are afraid of change? Whatever this key reason would be, once you do understand that it is the answer to the above-mentioned question, you would know whether this decision making factor sits well with the image you have of yourself in your mind or not. Often times you think you are very hard working and it is true based on your previous track record as well, but the thing holding you back(without you knowing) is just this fear of putting in the hard work again. If you are afraid of something, you would naturally come up with many excuses to fill up your cons list so that it can outweigh its counterpart i.e. the pros. This can also be confirmed if you critically look at your cons list again after figuring out your key reason that stops you from going through with any choice.
There are 2 ways that I can offer you to help you visualize the difficult choice or rather the life changing decision that you are about to make and both of them are very simple,
The 'Carrot' Approach
The first approach is to help you find motivation for making a decision. The decision to make this choice is based on asking yourself the question, “What if I do go through with this decision?”.
What is the end product you envision yourself getting as a result of making the decision and embarking on this arduous journey? If, for example, it is about studying for a test, where do you see yourself once you do pass(or secure high marks on) that test is the source of motivation for you. If you want to start going to the gym, where do you see yourself after putting in the hard work is your motivation to go through with the decision. Just for the sake of trying out this approach, you should let your creative mind run free and use your imagination to see yourself achieving success and see how that would be important for you.
All of your fears and doubts that you have about making this choice can take a backseat for this. You should try to find motivation from within yourself rather than trying to forcefully squeeze it out any cleverly written quote by someone else. Be sure not to overspend your time in just making empty castles in the air. Once you figure out where you are going, your focus should not be what you will do once you get there but rather how can you get there the fastest.
The 'Stick' Approach
The second approach is quite similar to the first one as it also requires you to ask yourself a question i.e. “What if you do not go through with this decision?”.
In this scenario, you are relying on the most realistic outcome of you not making this decision. This is not only about what you will miss out on if you did go through with and succeeded in your endeavour, but also about what would happen in your life without even trying. Obviously, you would not be able to get the rewards from the success of your journey if you never embark on it. Additionally, you should also ask yourself about how this decision of not taking on this challenging task would manifest in your life afterwards. Are you truly content with the place you are in your life or do you still want it to improve? If so, would cowering away from the decision to go through with this hard task actually have a positive impact in your life? Or would it fill you with regret and come to affect your current happy routine as well? Would this decision have any impact on the upcoming tough choices that you will have to make or not? Of course, it doesn’t stop at just that, as you can use the same approach to keep going through the grind even after making the decision as well.
This approach is best suited for people who do not worry excessively already as there is only so much stress that you can and should take. This approach allows you to become more decisive and focused due to the fear of not making a decision rather than focusing on what would happen if you did make the decision. This same ‘stick’ approach can be extended even after you have made the decision to think about what would happen if you failed at achieve what you set out to do by making this decision. You should use this as momentum to push through and keep grinding.
Conclusion
To conclude, I do not think that there is a superior method to visualize your choices among these two mentioned here. Ideally, you should opt for the one which suits your personality well and try to balance it out with the other approach as well. For example, if you are someone who worries too much and gets nervous easily, then you should try to opt for the ‘carrot’ approach first and motivate yourself. Then you should use the ‘stick’ approach to figure out the consequences of not giving your absolute best to the task at hand to keep the fire going in your heart. If you are someone who is too relaxed then you should do the opposite and start with the ‘stick’ approach. It is really all about visualizing the effect of not making this choice in your overall life. Chances are that any such choice which has lead you to deliberate this much has potential to give you something which you want in life. Not going through with it will make sure you never get that certain something. So, instead of reaching towards that certain something as in the ‘carrot’ approach, you should run away from the consequence of not going through with it. When it starts to overwhelm you, you should then think about the benefits you could(and you definitely will, I believe) get if you actually succeeded. You know yourself the best even if you do not understand any other thing in the world. Only you can make the decision to change your life and no one else can do it for you. This article is only to give you an idea about how you can approach your situation in different ways and no matter what decision you make, I believe it will all work out for the best in the end for you. Good luck and stay true to yourself!
