When You Are Clear About Your Priorities, The Decisions Will Be Easy To Make

When you are clear about your priorities, it will be easier to make decisions. It’s like pushing away the branches of a thick forest to try to remember where your roots are. Roots that nourish your self-esteem so that you can find out who is superfluous in your life. This knowledge will help you act according to the voice in your own heart.

This idea may seem pretty obvious but it has some nuances that we should reflect on. We live in a world where there is a dimension that has taken more and more ground: despair. This feeling often comes before a depressive state. One where a person completely loses control of their life. It is like something that grows within us until we can finally not breathe.

Despair causes you to lose control

That emotional weakness arises when we begin to question the decisions we have made through our lives. Why do I invest so much time and energy in people who later let me down? Why do I worry so much about my job if they do not appreciate me? And why do I not listen to my instinct? Why did I not try when I had the opportunity?

It’s the perfect moment to find a new meaning. To explore our inner universe and find what gives our identities strength, energy and courage. In other words, our priorities.

Priorities, demands and the emotional brain

One of the biggest problems we have nowadays is our quest to separate our own priorities from those of the environment. It’s not about rejecting some just to care about others. No one can go through life and prioritize themselves and ignore what their job, family or the rest of the environment demands of them. It is important to find a harmonious balance.

If we devote all our time to external demands, we will envy ourselves and push further away from that center of personal power. That core that we should take care of and listen to every day: ourselves. The root of the problem lies in first visualizing our priorities to always let the demands move within that sphere. In other words, no one can demand anything from me that goes against my values. Anything that can damage my self-esteem or that can affect my physical or emotional integrity.

Now that this is clear, we will always be able to make decisions that go along the same line: along our hearts. And with our emotional brains. How can this be achieved? To better understand how to achieve this, it is worthwhile to dive a little further into the cerebral mechanisms that come with each decision process.

Emotional neurons and decision-making neurons

According to a study published in the journal “Nature Neuroscience”, it is the orbifrontal cortex that is responsible for decision-making. This study reached a useful and interesting conclusion. Within this study, there are two types of neurons that have very specific functions.

• The first type of neuron is OFC and their function is to offer an emotional value to each alternative that we must weigh before making a decision. They do so in accordance with our previous experiences, our identity and our personality. It is like an earlier mechanism that links directly to what we call “intuition”. For example: Something tells me that I should say no to a job offer because I know it requires things that do not match my profile.
• The second group of neurons is the host cells. Here there is no longer any emotional component but the approach is more practical. “I have to accept this job because I need a salary, because it’s important that I get back to work.”

You must have clear priorities to be able to make safer decisions

We know that you have to take certain risks in life. Some of the decisions you make will be better than others. But sometimes what seems crazy at first will ultimately be the most logical and successful option in our existence. What we are trying to say with all this is very simple. In order to be happy, you must make decisions and always be responsible for them.

The feeling of hopelessness can be resolved by connecting to our inner world and by bringing priorities to the surface. Priorities that no one should boycott. To be able to achieve this, it is important to think of 3 simple strategies:

• Reduce. Prepare a piece of paper and write down all your needs. You will notice that there are many. But among them you will find your authentic priorities: to be happy, to be respected, to feel physically and emotionally well. Reflect on this.
• Compare. When your priorities are clear, compare them with the requirements of your environment. Are they in harmony with each other? Is anything required of you that goes against your values? Is there anyone who disturbs your emotional health?

• Consolidate. Now that we have become aware that there are certain aspects that go against our priorities, we should try to strike a balance between our internal priorities and our external requirements.

Once we have completed these steps, only a small detail remains. One that is amazing and necessary: plan your life. Because if there is one thing we get by having clear needs, values, dreams and hopes, it is that we are the owners of our own destiny.