In this month’s article we are talking about what to do after you make a decision to help you make the most out of whatever happens. We want to talk a little more about Step 3, “Don’t Protect, Correct.”
After we make our decision, it’s important that we give it our very best. But sometimes, no matter how hard we try, it just doesn’t work out. That’s when we need to “correct” our path. We don’t have to stick to a decision that isn’t working. We can change it.
As Susan wrote in Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway, “Many of us are so invested in making the ‘right’ decision that even if we find we don’t like the path we have chosen, we hang in there for dear life. To my way of thinking, this is the height of craziness. There is tremendous value in learning you don’t like something. Then it is simply a matter of changing your path.”
You might feel like if you keep changing paths, that you’re not committing to your decisions. But you’ll know, deep down, whether or not this is true. If you’ve committed yourself to something, given it your very best and then find out it’s not for you, it is alright to move onto something else.
You might face criticism from friends, family, and colleagues when you change your mind, but remember that no experience is a waste of time. You will probably have learned really important lessons and gained loads of experience. But if it doesn’t feel like the right thing anymore, why invest more time in something that doesn’t make you feel your best self?
According to Susan, “I know many people who stay locked in unsatisfactory situations that no longer work for them because they’ve invested so much and it would be a shame not to continue. How illogical! Why invest more, if it’s no longer paying off? Remember—the quality of your life is at stake!”