It has been proven that if you have too many choices, you are more likely to REGRET your selection. If you are at all like me, you’ll agree, because chances are you’ve experienced it countless times! Want an example? OK, here’s a simple one: Have you ever stood paralyzed in the cereal isle of the supermarket?  We all know that having some level of choice is crucial for happiness, but too much can feel totally overwhelming.

Here are 7 Steps To Help You Make Better Decisions compiled by Catherine Price, author of 101 Places Not To See Before You Die.

1. Identify your goal
As David Welch, Phd. professor of political science at the University of Waterloo in Ontario and author of Decisions, Decisions: The Art of Effective Decision Making, explains, “People who aren’t self-reflective are going to end up making bad decisions because they don’t really know what they want in the first place.” Before you turn your life upside down, ask yourself: Do I really want a different career? Or do I just want different clients? Don’t make a decision based on the wrong problem.

2. Eliminate choices by setting standards
If you’re trying to buy a digital camera, list the features you’ll actually use. Any camera that has them is therefore good enough for you; ignore anything fancier. Speaking of which…

3. Don’t worry about finding the “best”
How good you feel about your decisions is usually more important than how good they are objectively.

4. Be aware of biases
They can lead smart people to make dumb decisions. For example: We hate to lose more than we like to win, which can result in behavior such as holding on to a tanking stock instead of accepting a loss. We remember vivid examples more than facts, which is why plane crashes stick in our heads more than statistics on air safety. And we’re susceptible to how information is framed – a “cash discount” is more appealing than “no credit card surcharge”. Keeping these biases in mind can help you think clearly.

5. Try not to rush
People tend to make poorer choices when they’re in a bad mood or under a lot of stress. When facing a complex decision, use your conscious brain to gather the information you need, and then take a break. Go for a walk. Spend half an hour meditating. Take a nap. Have a beer. The idea is to give your unconscious mind some time to do its work. The decision you make afterward is more likely to be the right (or at least a perfectly acceptable) one.

6. Don’t sweat the small stuff
When possible, eliminate the need for decisions by establishing rules for yourself. You will go to yoga every weekend. You will not have more than two glasses of  wine. You will buy whatever toilet paper is on sale.

7. Do a post-game analysis
After each decision you make, ask yourself how you felt afterward and what about the experience you can apply in the future.

Leap of the Week:
Decide on one thing that you will start doing this week that will no longer require a day to day decision.

My decision is this one:
I will go to my morning yoga class every day that I don’t start coaching before 9:00am. Period. Ah… I feel great about making that a “non-daily decision”. I will finally stop asking myself at 5:30 in the morning,”should I go to yoga today?”

So Leapers, what will you do to STOP asking yourself the same bloody questions day after day?