Have you ever been stuck making a hard decision? Have you ever not been stuck? If you have been, then well done for recognising and looking for help. Like you, I am frequently stuck. I procrastinate, I flick from one tab to another getting no-where, I avoid making a decision.

This kind of thing is a waste of time, it's stressful and it stops of getting on with building great products.

A few months ago, I was stuck on a problem. I felt that I needed a mentor to help me. I had it on my todo list but I couldn't get round to it, I was spinning, procrastinating, staring at a brick wall. I was not making a decision.

Then it hit me! I recorded the questions below (taken from Coaching for Performance) and I solved my problem.

Coach yourself to make decisions

These questions are useful when you have an issue that needs exploring and solving. This can be anything from personal issues, team conflicts, prioritisation, through to full blown crises.

Using the questions is straightforward - you don't need to know anything about coaching to use them. Here are some tips to make the most out of them:

1. Set yourself a time limit. Something between 30 minutes and 55 minutes should work well. Too short and you won't go deep enough. Too long and you will stagnate on issues.
2. Go with you gut. Try and write down everything that comes to you as you work through the questions.
3. Start at the top and work your way to the bottom, but don't be afraid to back up and re-visit questions if new ideas or perspectives come to mind. But try to avoid skipping questions. The GROW model makes you focus on the goal before you brainstorm the outcome. Give it a shot!

Read-aloud

Maybe you respond better to verbal queues. If so, consider getting a colleague to read the questions to you. If you prefer to verbalize ideas (speak them) rather than write them, think about using a dictation app like Otter.ai.