Better Decision Making

Decision making is integral to your success.

Here’s a simple rule:

Don’t make a permanent decision from a temporary emotion.

Making decisions from a place of emotional drama will get you more drama; not the results you want.

Recently, a business owner shared with me the misalignment of expectation and effort she was having with a colleague. A massive fissure in their partnership that was seeping into their overall relationship. This was causing lots of drama and creating feelings of disappointment, frustration, and insecurity, to name a few.

Drama like this has a snowball effect.

It will gain momentum and zap you of energy until you recognize it for what it is and get back to what you want most.

I asked her to look at it from a 30K foot view by asking the question of what outcomes she wanted from an upcoming strategic planning meeting. This pulled her out of the drama and into ideation, creation, possibility and clarity.

From there she could see that throwing down the snowball of emotions would be messy and just suck for her and her colleague.

Instead of coming from a place of being right or from hurt feelings, she got curious and honed in on the vision she wanted for the business. She then worked back from that place with a list of questions for her upcoming meeting.

She recognized the potential of doubling or tripling revenue with a realigned and stronger partnership.

She made the decision to focus on the future and bold outcomes rather than the current, distracting drama.

Much better feelings from that thought exercise. Clean thoughts. Melted snow.

It had me thinking about the process of decision making, and what’s the difference between an easy or a hard decision?

I was inspired by this article on Tom Brady and his decision-making. Tom’s decision to retire is a teachable lesson in emotional intelligence. It’s also a lesson on managing your internal drama while managing others drama. Not just the football GOAT, but also a master of EQ.

As recounted in the article, Tom didn’t make a permanent decision based on the emotions he was feeling right after losing what would be his last game.

Make better decisions from the outcomes you want to generate. Start by asking questions:

-What do I know in this moment about either side of the decision?

-What do I need to know before I make the decision?

-What are the facts vs story (what could be proven in a court of law)?

-What would be a wrong decision?

-What is my definition of a right decision?

-What do I need to feel to believe in the decision?

-What steps will I take if I make the wrong decision?

Keep in mind, a wrong decision gives you data to make better decisions in the future.

Another decision-making no-no:

Don’t make decisions from scarcity or hustle. Hustle and grind usually come from a place of need versus want. (A topic for another email.)

I wrote this post to help me get out of my own drama and back into creating what I want most for myself.