Make tough decision with clarity and confidence

“I help leaders, executives, business owners and celebrities make tough decisions better and faster with more clarity and confidence.”

There was an executive client who brought a difficult decision-making dilemma into my coaching session.

His dilemma was… He needs to choose between the 2 options. One option is to say ‘Yes’ to his boss on the overseas job assignment and the other option is to say ‘No’ to this offer and let his boss down.

So, I asked him to clarify more on these 2 options. He said, his boss needs him to go to a country in Europe to take care of the business in one of the company’s branches over there for a few months. But he’s so unsure and unclear whether he should go because he has a big concern about his mother who has been paralyzed for years. He loves his mother so much that he doesn’t want to leave her for even just a few months. 

Then, I helped him explore more deeply into the story about his mother. He told me that his mother still has his father and a hired full-time nurse to look after her at home. So, even without my client being there with her, she would still be in good hands. But my client told me that usually, he is the person who manages and handles everything for his mother’s well-being like taking her to a hospital for a routine physical checkup and treatment and so on and so forth.

Next, I helped him understand about his business need. He told me that this overseas assignment is critical to his career growth. If he says ‘Yes’ to this offer, then he will have a good chance for a promotion. However, if he says ‘No’, there could be a negative consequence to his career growth.

I used my coaching process to help him gain more self-awareness, and one of my awakening questions was… “What would your mother say to you if she knew that you would need to make this tough decision?”

He paused for a while. Then, he suddenly got an epiphany! He answered, “My mother would totally support me to go for this overseas job assignment!”

I asked him, “Why would she totally support you?” He replied, “Because my mother always wants me to grow and make progress in my career. She wants nothing but the best for me from the way she raised me since my childhood. So, she would be very upset and disappointed if I turned down this overseas assignment offer.”

So, I asked him what he had learned from our coaching conversation. He said, now he can make his decision with more clarity and confidence. He told me that not only do I understand him, but I also seem to understand his mother on what she really wants for him based on my reflection to him.

“When our awareness is evoked, we automatically become awakened from our dilemma or problem, and our bliss will certainly arise from having clarity and confidence in our decision.”