AFM AKASIA

We all have to make decisions on a day-to-day basis. Some of these decisions are good, while some of them have a negative impact on our lives and those around us. The problem is that we often let ourselves be guided by our biases, and that leads us to make worse decisions. But how can we make unbiased decisions? Let’s take a look at a few strategies.

1. Don’t just blindly follow your emotions

There are situations when your emotions will guide you to make the right choice, usually in matters relating to your personal life. But when making professional choices, especially those that impact other people, you need to leave your emotions aside.

It’s easier said than done, but a good way of doing this is naming the emotion you feel (are you angry, anxious, sad? What are you feeling right now?) and setting it aside. When you recognize and become aware of the emotion, it’s easier to limit the impact it has on your decision.

2. Don’t go with your initial reaction

Our initial reactions can sometimes be very strong, but that doesn’t mean they are always right. Sometimes, we make a snap judgment of a situation or a person that won’t prove to be true later, but we are likely to stick with it.

Take stock of your initial reaction – what was it? How did you feel and respond? Then measure this initial reaction against the evidence. For example, if your first impression of a job applicant was that they were irresponsible, but later you see them arriving on time and getting things done at a good level, it’s time to reassess this first impression.

Give yourself time to confirm or reject that initial snapshot.

3. Consider various scenarios

Often, we tend to run with a single possible scenario (and, usually, it’s the worst-case scenario). When we do this, the potential outcome we came up with starts seeming very likely and probable, even if it’s just a situation we imagined. Instead of allowing yourself to settle for a single scenario, start considering alternatives.

What would the best-case scenario look like? What if things turn out in an average way, not too good and not too bad? Try to think of at least a couple of other scenarios and consider them seriously alongside the one you first thought of.

4. Start with the basics and work your way up

A good way to start a decision-making process is to work your way up. Start by discarding the options you know that will not work for you and figure out the central elements of the choice.

For example, if you are choosing a vacation spot, you might decide right away that you want to be near a beach and in a spot with a lot of nightlife. That will help you manage your options and reduce them down.

Understand what you are basing your decision on and what your core criteria are – what matters most to you, what needs to be present, and what aspects would characterize a desirable outcome.

5. Don’t try to find the perfect option for everything

Often, the trap of decision-making is that we try to make the best possible choice – and that’s not always practical. When we try to make the perfect decision, we might have to consider hundreds of options and evaluate them by putting in a lot of time and energy. This is not something we are wired to do, as we can comfortably evaluate around 5-7 options at a time. When we have hundreds, we get stuck.

Also, it can have little meaning when the decision has low stakes. Does it really matter whether you get the best possible microwave? Even with an important decision, sometimes you need to choose what’s good enough rather than what’s perfect, or else the process will drag on indefinitely.

If you have to make a quick choice, go with something that is good enough – it fits the minimum requirements and is likely to lead to a good outcome, rather than looking for the ideal, the best choice that often does not exist.

Every day, we make plans for the future. We plan so many things that will happen and that we will do. Once we retire, once we lose weight, once we have a relationship, once we get promoted or once we achieve this or that.

But how wise is it to let our happiness depend on the future? Do we actually know what will happen?

We can think that we will have time to spend with our family after we retire or that we will finally be able to go on vacation once we get that new job. But we can’t actually know that.

Life is, ultimately, unpredictable. Sometimes, we will get lucky or unlucky enough to get exactly what we wanted. However, just as easily, there can be more and more unexpected factors that make our plans impossible.

This doesn’t mean that we should give up on planning at all – long-term goals are useful and inspiring. But we should not defer our happiness until something happens. It might never happen.

Don’t postpone the things that bring you the most joy. Try to make them part of your life today.

Start living today.

Take it day by day – all we are guaranteed is the present, the current moment, the here and now. Tomorrow might come or not, so it’s not worth it to simply put everything off for later.

Later might not come. You might want something different later. Learn to enjoy the here and now.

Take a moment to recognize all the good things you have. Take time to stop and enjoy whatever you are doing. Feel the happiness of granting yourself the small pleasures that make life worth living.

Spread the happiness and give other people some of your time today. Don’t think that things will stay the same – enjoy everything the present has to offer you right now.

Your goals are important, but so is the happiness you can find right away. Putting things off until later can mean that you will never get to enjoy them now, so allow yourself to be content with what you have right now.

Many people say they want stability in life, but each of us can define it differently. For some, stability involves having a lot of money, for others, a career, but when we talk about stability, we need to focus on emotional stability as well.

This type of stability means that you can feel comfortable with your life, that you have a purpose, that the process of living your experience every day works for you.

Do you feel satisfied with your life? Do you feel comfortable with your routines, your work, your relationships?

Stability means that you feel satisfied with what you have. You might want more, but you perceive your current situation to be OK, to be workable, to provide you comfort and satisfaction. It provides fulfillment.

Consider the main areas of your life – your work, your relationships, and your current situation. If you are in a relationship that is hurting you or full of conflict, you do not have stability.

If you are constantly stressed and upset at work, you do not have stability.

A state of constant stress is not sustainable. When this is what is happening, we might need to take a step back and think.

Sometimes, quitting is the right choice. If we are always under fire and stress and pressure, we can’t achieve any kind of stability. Even if the situation brings us money, that is often not enough. We need to find fulfillment and tranquility as well.

Being satisfied with what you have doesn’t mean never seeking more. Instead, it empowers us to seek out our goals in a more effective way. It means that we are not just living for tomorrow, but also for the here and now. You need to enjoy the process of living – if you don’t, then what’s the point?

You get one life and each moment is not going to repeat itself. The future won’t bring you more happiness unless you learn how to find it at the moment.

Make sure your day-to-day is working for you and providing you with what you need to say you are living a good life.

Ask yourself – What will make you satisfied? What will truly bring you stability? Has there ever been a point where you felt said stability or are you just seeking it now?

Consider that you can always try to attain it – you just need to make sure you are pursuing the right goals. Ask yourself this, too: are your current goals aligned with the stability you want in life?

‘Make yourself a priority. At the end of the day, you are your longest commitment.’ Often it’s hard to take time out for ourselves, as we’re too busy looking after other people’s well-being.

Our emotions are equally important to us just as we sympathize with others. We need to validate our feelings and be kind to ourselves.

‘You are worthy of the same grace you have so generously extended to others’ – We’re indulged in our daily routine so deeply that we tend to overlook our well-being. We place other people’s emotions before ours and feel guilt when we’re unavailable for them.

We tend to feel ashamed or overdramatic when we stand for ourselves. It’s not hard to realize our emotions, do what we love to do, and take time out for just ourselves!

How can you prioritize yourself?

1. Validate your emotions

Choose to put yourself first and make yourself a priority. It’s not selfish, it’s necessary. Putting yourself, your emotions and your thoughts first may hurt someone in the short term but you will be happy in the long term.

2. Learn to say no.

If you don’t feel like doing something for someone, stand for yourself and say no. Self-care is important, and the act of saying no is essential when you want to put yourself first. You’ll feel bad but you’ll realize as well, how much you need it.

Learn to draw a boundary, when to say no and when to agree with someone.

3. Be kind to yourself

Don’t be too hard on yourself for your mistakes. ‘To err is to human’. Acknowledge your efforts and hard work. Don’t compare yourself with others and appreciate yourself. Trust me, that’s a huge favor you could do for yourself.

4. Discover yourself and what you love

This is the best way to spend your leisure time to go after what you’ve wanted to do for a long time. Pick up your favorite activities and give them as much time as you can. Discover and reinvent yourself!

5. Give yourself a treat

Do something nice for yourself, because you deserve it!

A treat can be as simple as treating yourself with your favorite flavor of ice cream or a bar of chocolate!

Take a day off and pamper yourself or go on a road trip. It’s very refreshing.

6. Give time to your thought.

Take some time out and reflect on your thoughts. Rethink your decisions and go through your thoughts. Reflect on your emotions, attitude, and actions in daily life. Notice what makes you happy, sad, angry, or anxious. Know your triggers and how to tackle them.

A team works towards a collective goal, and it requires the individual efforts made by the team members that eventually sum up to a team effort.

In addition to this, it is also critical that every member of the team is not only on the same page but also has an understanding of the common goal that the team wants to achieve. Are there any differences of opinion or a new idea, it should be put forth and evaluated with an open mind.

As a team member, you are the piece of the puzzle that makes it whole. Your job is as important as that of a team leader.

Communication – a key to a successful team

If problems or ideas are not properly and safely communicated, the team is bound to fail in meeting its goals and aims. So for better communication, a leader should provide a safe and comfortable environment and as for team members, they should question the things they don’t understand about the project, bring in new ideas to the table, and finally, when the project work is in process, a good team member should communicate their progress and what they have achieved so far.

Communicating your developments with the team can help boost and motivate the morale of your team as well.

“Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is a success.”

Knowing your team members

This is essential for successful outcomes. Understanding that where the person is coming from can help ease the process of achieving the goals. For any goal, certain skills are required and it so happens that a single person is not capable of doing all of the tasks at hand.

Every person has a distinct skill set. Every person has working environment preferences, meaning that they work best in certain environments. So providing your team members the safety of work will build trust and compassion, traits that lead a project to success.

Practicing empathy

The other aspect to knowing your team members is to recognize the personal struggles your team member is facing. Give them space and if you can, you can help them in your capacity. Here comes a very important thing to practice in teamwork and that’s empathy.

Putting yourself in someone else’s shoes is important to understand. If you see that one of your team members who used to be so active and cheery is now zoned out or looks visibly sad or is turning in their progress late or not working the way they used, this is the time where you pull them aside and ask them how they are doing? This will increase their trust in you and most importantly, feel safe to share.

Respecting your teammate’s work

It feels so good when your idea is what the team is going to follow and you feel so confident in yourself when that happens. But sometimes, that’s not the case and it’s okay.

Your team regarded your idea as the one that the whole team is going to follow and sometimes your idea may be discarded in favor of another idea presented by one of your team members. It is important to consider their ideas and ambitions and respectfully question if there are any confusions.

You as a leader.

‘Leadership is not about titles, positions, or flow charts. It’s about one life influencing others.’ – John C Maxwell.

A leader has to be approachable to the team. As a leader, you should understand the needs of your teammates as it leads to trust and psychological safety. If your teammate is having a hard time, talk to them and respect their feelings.

As a leader, you understand handling the pressure, giving your best, it’s not just about finishing the work but efficiently reaching your goal and acting responsibly.

Be ready to help.

One of the best qualities of a good team member is that he’s always there to help his fellows. Although you could be busy with your work, always give your best when clearing the doubts of your team members. If you think about it, it is a great help when you clear someone’s doubts. One can have a great outlook and problem-solving skills when they solve others’ difficulties.

Boosting your teammate’s spirits

If your team members feel worthy and heard in the team, this will boost their spirit and confidence in themselves and the team. Acknowledging and appreciating the efforts put in by your fellow teammates will encourage them to work hard and give time to the common shared goal.

“Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision. The ability to direct individual accomplishments toward organizational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results.”

The word discipline, for many, is associated with unpleasant things. But if we recognize its benefits and embrace it, discipline can become the best choice we can make.

It doesn’t matter what you want to accomplish. You will need some degree of discipline to do it. We can only learn by trying, practicing, and being consistent. Whether you want to write a book or become an artist or get a better job, you will need to make a habit out of your work.

From the outside, things seem easy. It’s only through work that we learn the true effort required for a goal, and there is no real shortcut.

When you adopt a discipline, be it a work routine or something else, you have to confront the hard questions. Why are you doing this? What are you doing? Is it worth it?

Being able to answer these questions is a precious thing in itself, but it can also help you connect time and again with your true motivations and desires.

There are few guarantees in life. However, one thing is certain. If you don’t try, you won’t succeed. But if you try, you are certain to get better. You are certain to achieve success, to some degree.

There is no way of getting a goal without work. Whether you want money, fame, good relationships, a thriving career, you will need to apply yourself for this objective.

Discipline is the best practice. Whatever you want, you will be able to get it with enough effort, by doing everything that depends on you.

Being consistent will help you see results. It’s not enough to do something every once in a while. Consistent effort, however, is always going to pay off, one way or another.

Whatever you want to achieve, you will need discipline. Discipline relies on your choice and the habits you decide to build. However, the great thing about it is that anyone can cultivate discipline.

Start working on discipline today. The results are sure to leave you satisfied.

We all fail at some point. It’s unavoidable, and it’s not a pleasant experience. We might take a hit to our confidence and self-esteem and wonder if we even have what it takes. But any kind of failure can be an amazing opportunity for growth and development if we approach it in the best way.

Here are 6 things to remember when something didn’t go the way you intended.

1. It was not your last chance

It’s never too late to pursue your dreams and goals, in one way or another. There are always new opportunities to pursue and you will always get another shot at showcasing your abilities and skills. There will always be another chance, and you will approach it with greater readiness and having learned more. Each opportunity teaches you something so that when you try again, you will do better.

2. Think what this failure taught you

One of the biggest advantages of failure, any kind of failure, is that it makes you wiser. It provides a lesson – why didn’t it work? What could you do differently next time? What should you consider about yourself in regards to this situation? What is the main lesson? Consider the situation from different perspectives and, if you can, ask people you trust for their input too.

3. Always keep the possibility of failure in mind

It is harder to cope with failure when you were 100% confident in your success. This is not a bad mindset when your victory or triumph is guaranteed, but that is rarely the case. Always keep in mind the possibility that something might not turn out as you envisioned, because this will help you avoid feeling devastated.

You should have a plan b and be prepared to put it into action. This doesn’t mean that you need to give up or have a defeatist attitude, just to be ready for any outcome. This might help you have a backup or consider your resources more carefully than if you go all in.

4. Don’t see something as personal when it is not

A problem with failure is that we see something that reflects on us or that is entirely related to our personal failings. But just as often, our failure happens due to factors that have nothing to do with us. Maybe we offer something that is not wanted or maybe there are objective circumstances that change the situation and are beyond our control.

While we should strive to learn from our mistakes, it’s also no good to pin each situation solely on ourselves. By acknowledging that we don’t have full control over the world, we can become resilient and focus on what’s within our purview.

5. Compassion is not just for other people

Approaching the failure with compassion is an important thing to remember. Often, we are really harsh to ourselves and that discourages us from trying again or learning from the mistakes we made.

Instead, we want to approach the situation with compassion. We can picture what we would say to a close friend who faced something similar and redirect the words to ourselves.

6. Failure is not permanent, it’s a natural part of the process

Changing how we view failure can provide us with the resilience we need to overcome it. It’s not just that there will be other opportunities, it’s that failure is an outcome that, if not as desirable as a success, is still valid and important. It is what helps us learn and forces us to grow.

Failure is not pleasant but is significant, and looking at any story of success, we will always find the failures that built it. See it as a necessary step, and you will bounce back better and faster. It can help you welcome your mistakes as important parts of everything you will be able to do and learn through them.

Almost everything we do throughout the day is, in some way, a habit. Eating breakfast, commuting, working, having dinner with the family, exercising, and more are all habits that we do time and again.

If most of our day is made up of habits, then they clearly play a very important role. What we do today and the habits we have are what determines the future.

If we exercise today, we will be healthier tomorrow. If we don’t write even a paragraph today, there won’t be a book written by us tomorrow. Without the right habits, the future you want will not happen.

Your success and your failure both depend on what your habits are. Not what they will be, but what they are right now, today, in the present.

Analyzing your habits is the best investment you can make towards your future. Even if you change one habit every month, you will be able to make huge changes over your lifetime.

Good habits help you achieve your goals successfully. Discipline alone can make a huge difference in the results you can see.

If you study a new language for five minutes per day, within a year, you will have a better grasp of that language. You can’t learn a language by studying it for a few hours once. You need discipline and practice, and that’s true for most skills.

Habits are the building blocks for success. They make up the bulk of our actions throughout the day. If we can make them effective, the results are sure to follow.

Some habits are easier to change than others. However, with the right effort, there are no habits that can’t be changed.

Focus on a habit at a time. Identify the ones that you dislike and the ones you want to have. Set your priorities: which one do you want to get started on? Which one is holding you back the most? Which one would make the biggest difference?

Through a change in habits, you can accomplish a lot. The advantage is that once a habit is established, it’s easy to stick with it. So, get started today to see the results as you can.