I learnt this from a US Marine and made better decisions under pressure

“Life doesn’t get easier, you just get better at it” — Steve Mariboli

Today’s world mirrors the battlefield in that it is VUCA — volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous.

The ability to make decisions is a privilege, but it can also be a burden and stressful. Whether at work or in life, often we have to deal with more rapidly changing circumstances and face judgement on those decisions from others.

To help yourself make these decisions in the chaos and constantly changing circumstances of life, it pays to take a leaf out of the US Marine training book.

The Rule of Three

When faced with any situation/decision a Marine is taught start by defining the problem clearly. When they’ve done that they generate three options for how to proceed.

The view is that any less than three and there simply aren’t enough genuine options from which to choose one.

More than three and there is a risk that the soldier is affected by paralysis by analysis — a common problem that affects many of us in different areas of out lives.

Having made their choice it is then imperative they execute that decision with full commitment. Remember, there is no such thing as the…