Every day we make hundreds of choices. Some of them are tiny; so tiny that it doesn’t even feel like we made a decision. At what point we get out of bed, what we have for breakfast, what we wear, the route we travel to work, the list goes on and on.

Some of them are bigger, more impactful. Some are difficult to make and we can spend hours or even days pondering the right thing to do. Should we apply for that new job? Should we ask them out on a date? Should I buy that new car?

We are creatures of habit. As we get into the habit of not considering the small things, of not making deliberate decisions around those, we revert to our habitual behaviours. This is the easy path for us and our brains are happy not to have been exercised.

But like a muscle that hasn’t been exercised, it isn’t building strength. It isn’t building it’s ability to make good decisions. Subsequently, when faced with the bigger decisions, we haven’t conditioned our brains for the process.

This reversion to automatic behaviours in our every day is also leading us down unchosen pathways. We are what we do. Little by little our non-deliberate decision making is forming who we are. We’re letting our circumstances and our habits define us.

We are not suggesting that we spend an hour choosing what we have for breakfast or that we write a list of pros and cons for our choice of which trousers to wear. But take moments throughout the day to think about the previous thirty minutes and the next thirty minutes. What decisions have you made or are you faced with next? Are you referring to a habit or making decisions with appropriate levels of deliberation? Start when you wake up. Make a considered decision before you get out of bed, even if that is to either get out of bed or have another snooze.

Build a habit of making deliberate decisions and you’re building your skills at decision making. It’s a skill that helps you live your life with purpose.