Running a business means making decisions all the time. Some are big, some are small, some will loop round in your head for weeks. I’ve had a fair few of those! 🙋‍♀️

We make decisions about pricing and offers, how visible we are and where are boundaries lie.

We face decision fatigue constantly so it’s no wonder we feel overwhelmed or get stuck in overthinking.

This guide will slow down the process and help you build a more grounded way to make decisions. Even when it feels hard and confusing.

If you’re stuck between several options or are avoiding a choice entirely, these techniques will help you to recognise what’s really driving your decisions and show you how to access more clarity, calm and trust in yourself.

A Little Reframing

Every decision teaches you something.

Even if it doesn’t go the way you hoped, you get more insight. More information. More data for future you.

Whatever you choose, the goal is to stay awake and aware. There is no “perfect” path.

This is about making decisions with less second guessing and more connection to your whole self.

Your Brain Makes 35,000 Decisions a Day

Most of them are automatic. Including about 350 a day just around food.
No wonder we’re exhausted.

The more stressed or disconnected we feel, the more likely we are to default to patterns that don’t serve us. Like avoiding decisions, asking other people what they’d do, or rushing through them just to feel relief.

So instead of pushing through, this approach asks you to pause.

To check in with your body and your thoughts.
To name what’s really going on.
And to respond from a more grounded place.

The 3 Biggest Decision Making Tangles

These are the most common ways we get stuck:

1. Believing Your Thoughts Are Facts

You think: “They’ll judge me.” “I’ll fail.” “I’ll regret it.”
But thoughts are not facts.
Once you believe them without question, fear kicks in and clarity disappears.

2. Emotional Reasoning

You feel anxious, so you assume the choice must be wrong.
You feel excited, so you assume it must be right.
Feelings are signals, but they are not instructions.

3. A Vague or Borrowed WHY

You’re trying to decide something without a clear reason why.
Or you’re operating from a WHY that isn’t yours (hello, “shoulds”).
Without clarity here, everything feels heavy and full of doubt. 

TRY THIS

A Simple Practice to Notice Your Pattern

Choose a real decision you’re avoiding. It doesn’t have to be big.
Now bring it to mind and gently scan your whole self.

•  Where do you feel it in your body? (throat, chest, belly, jaw?)
•  What’s the loudest thought in your mind?
•  What emotion sits underneath that thought? (anxiety, guilt, pressure, excitement?)
•  What do you feel the urge to do? (avoid, rush, ask everyone, over-research?)

This is your decision making style, slowed down, in real time.

Now finish this sentence: “When a decision feels hard, I usually cope by…”

Just notice it. No need to fix it yet.

Building a Better Process

Here’s a grounded method to get clearer on any decision using a real life example around raising prices. Something a lot of women who work for themselves get stressed about.

1. Name the Decision

Write it down clearly. e.g. “Should I increase my prices?”

2. Separate Facts from Story

Draw two columns on a page.

In column 1 write the facts you know:
 Keep it simple and neutral. No opinions here.
e.g. “I charge €80 per session. I am fully booked most weeks.”

In column 2 write the story you're telling yourself:
 This is the meaning, predictions, or fear based interpretations that you've added to the facts.
e.g. “They’ll think I’m greedy.” “I’ll lose clients.” “I’m not good enough yet.”

Now underline the single most stressful sentence.
This is the sentence driving your fear.

Ask yourself:

•  What is this story trying to protect?
•  How could I see this in a more helpful or generous way? 

3. Write Your WHY statement 

Use this statement as a guide:
“I want to do X because it helps me create Y for Z.” 

For example: “I want to raise my prices from €80 to €95 because it helps me create more sustainable income and show up with more care for my best-fit clients and my future self.”

If you struggle to write this, that’s valuable information. It means that you might be:

•  Avoiding a trade-off (we usually have to sacrifice something in order to have something else)
•  Trying to meet someone else’s expectations (those dreaded 'should's')
•  Not clear yet on what you truly want

If this isn’t coming to you right away, give yourself more space and return to it another time. Try not to force an answer. The wisdom will emerge when the conditions are right. i.e. Stillness.

RECAP: Making Aligned Decisions

1.  Name the decision really clearly
2.  Separate the Facts from the Stories
3.  Underline the most stressful thought and see what it’s protecting
4.  Write your WHY using: “I want to do X because it helps me create Y for Z.”
5.  Soften the grip of your story and try a more helpful view
6.  Take one reversible step to test the water

Practice Makes Presence

Being able to make aligned decision from a place of inner stillness means you can move forward even with feelings of doubt or anxiety. But you’ll be choosing from a place grounded in clarity, not fear.

When you notice the thoughts are running the show, pause, drop your awareness into your body, and allow your deep inner wisdom to choose your response from this calm, knowing place.

This is how you build trust in yourself, and make decisions that match who you’re becoming.

And the more you practise, the easier it gets.

P.S. If you'd like the support, encouragement and accountability of a group of wise and welcoming women, find out more about The Women Entrepreneurs Group here: www.thewomenentrepreneursgroup.com