Just Say “OK”
From the moment you wake up, you are making decisions. Thousands of micro-decisions are made everyday. You are either taking action on a decision or processing whether or not to act. There are likely several decisions ping-ponging around your brain at any given time. It is exhausting.
Every person has a process of sending a decision through several internal filters or a personal algorithm. Those filters include your values, your desire for control and your intuition to protect yourself.
Our decision-making systems can be on overload because companies build their business to give you lots of choices. To prove this, go into a Starbucks and listen to 10 people place an order. Or walk down the cereal aisle at the grocery store.
If you have children, then you have decisions to make for them or decisions on when to say yes or no to their request. If you have health issues, you have an abundance of decisions ranging from self-care to traditional medicine to holistic treatment. If you have a spouse or someone you spend time with, you will be thinking of how your decision may affect the other person.
One thing I know for sure is I have a "fear" filter that is part of my process for decisions. You probably do too. If I don't take my lunch to work, there is the fear that I will spend too much, eat too much or skip lunch altogether. If I don't work out in the morning, there is the fear that I will stop working out altogether, I will be unmotivated the whole day or I'll feel worse the next workout.
I think it is time to save the fear filter for what really matters. Instead of overloading the filters to determine if what you are doing "is right" - just say "ok". If you typically like being in control of projects or decisions, you are going to surprise some people when your response is "ok". Don't lead off with rationale, reasoning or conditions, just say "ok".
If a new employee has an idea that has been tried before and failed - say "ok". If someone, you never talk to, asks for a donation - say "ok". If your spouse wants to start a business - say "ok". If your child wants ice cream for breakfast - say "ok".
I have clients in a divorce case say "ok" to a financial settlement even after I explain it isn't equitable. I admire those decisions because, to the client, there are more important things than money (even when there isn't a lot to go around). Several times, I have been in mediation and the mediator asks my client a question I am certain I know the response to, but I hold my tongue, and I am wrong. They said "ok".
Saying "ok" isn't giving in or backing down. It is freedom.
Free yourself from fear and decision fatigue and say "ok" a few more times today.
