206 - Friday Fix: How to Make Wise Decisions

The Verywell Mind Podcast

Dotdash Media Inc.

Health & Fitness, Self-improvement, Mental Health, Education

5 • 703 Ratings

🗓️ 14 October 2022

⏱️ 12 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

We all make poor decisions sometimes. But we often blame those bad decisions on not having enough information. And while that may be a factor, there’s another factor that often comes into play–we aren’t balancing our emotions with logic. Emotions should play a role in our decisions. But, if they play too big of a role, we’ll make poor choices. Logic should also play a role in decision making. But if we base our choices on logic alone, we’ll also make mistakes. We make our best decisions when we balance logic with emotion. That can be tough to do though. Fortunately, this is a skill that everyone can learn. And as we sharpen our skills, we get better at making wise decisions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to the Very Well Mind podcast. We've interviewed over 100 authors, experts, entrepreneurs, athletes, musicians, and others to help you learn strategies to care for your mental health.
0:22.9	This episode is hosted by psychotherapist and bestselling author Amy Morin. Now let's get into the episode.
0:45.6	Okay. You're listening to the Friday fix.
0:52.6	Every Friday, I share a quick mental strength strategy that can help fix the thoughts, feelings, and actions that can hold you back in life.
0:55.0	Today I'm talking about how to make a wise decision. I don't know why we're never taught this in school. After all, our decisions affect
1:00.3	every aspect of our lives. And while some people certainly make better decisions than others,
1:05.9	all of us have the ability to learn how to make better decisions. It's a topic that we address in the therapy office quite often.
1:13.7	In fact, a lot of people who come into therapy start out by making jokes about the poor
1:17.7	decisions that they've made in the past.
1:20.1	You've probably heard people make jokes too.
1:22.8	If you look on social media, it won't take long to find people who post things like,
1:27.4	my poor decisions make
1:28.5	good stories, or something like that. But behind the jokes, there's often a fair amount of pain.
1:35.5	Bad decisions lead to heartache. And if you tend to make poor decisions, you know what I mean.
1:41.1	You might struggle with shame, regret, sadness, and anxiety over past decisions. And you might
1:46.6	lack confidence in your ability to make good decisions in the future, which might leave you feeling stuck.
1:52.5	Rather than feel empowered to make good choices that improve your life, you might end up just trying to
1:57.7	avoid making things worse. Or you might decide that you're doomed, so why try
2:02.6	to make good decisions anyway? Just do whatever feels good right now. The truth is, all of us make
2:08.1	bad decisions sometimes. Like we date someone who isn't right for us and then stay in the relationship
2:13.4	way too long. Or we lose our temper and say something that ruins a relationship that we've had for a long
2:19.5	time. Or we take a job we knew wasn't a good fit because we like the new title that we'd have or we
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