It’s easy to make emotional decisions.

The way we feel produces a powerful force in us to do certain things (or not do them). And our emotions, including how we feel about the choices we want to make, can be easily manipulated by ads, movies, friends, relatives, and more. In fact, we are exposed to 5000 ads a day. Yes that’s five thousand, and that number keeps growing.

So there is an abundance of emotional stimuli around us and this stimuli can easily influence how we behave. It has the power to sway us into acting against what we believe is best. And when we make those emotional and often reflexive decisions, we end up comprising our values. We fall out of alignment with who we are and we lose touch with our authentic selves.

But if you want to be self-improve and make rational decisions, then let your decisions be motivated by your values and not by your feelings.

Here are some pointers that can help you be more in control.

Express Your Values

Your values are your compass for what’s important to you.

And they’re perhaps the best available tool to help you make rational decisions. But it’s a little ambiguous to say that values can help you make rational decisions. So let me try to flesh out this thought a little more and share with you a method that can help shine some clarity on this.

One of the ways to get clear on what’s most important to you is to begin by writing about who you are.

• How do you identify yourself?
• Are you a business person, teacher, carpenter, programmer?

Find a sheet of paper or open a document on your computer and write down 5 things that express who you are. These are the things you truly believe represent you. They represent your purpose for being.

I recommend that you write out whole sentences. This is a crucial step because you want to find yourself through expression, and you can’t figure these things out by simply listing 5 items. There has to be some soul-searching. You have to invest more effort until you discover what really matters to you. In addition, writing allows you to find the words and vocabulary that are most personal to you. Simply writing “being courageous” is way too general to be personally meaningful to you. So be a little more creative.

When you’re done, put this paper in your wallet or purse and read it to yourself often. It will help you keep what you value and the front of your mind’s eye.