Episode #16
Stop Making Bad Decisions
Mindset Monday - Episode 16 Transcript
How to rid yourself of poor decisions?
How to make better decisions!
Each day you and I are both faced with hundreds of decisions that we meet need to make each day just in order to make life work for us. The challenge is when you're stressed out or tempted to make poor decisions that don't support us in helping us reach where we want to go and get what we want out of life.
How often does this happen to you?
Mindset Monday the week begins now.
Today I'll give you one tip and strategy to help you build a better mindset terms of getting what you want this week.
Whenever you're facing a tough decision, you might be tempted to make a poor choice, so ask yourself this question:
What is the payoff to the decision or choice and I am about to make?
Every choice comes with the word consequence attached to it. Consequence is oftentimes attributed to being negative. However consequence also means positive.
So ask yourself what is the payoff to making this decision?
How will making this decision bring a positive consequence for you?
How will making this decision bring a negative consequence to you?
Will making this decision given the information that I have bring me closer to getting what I want out of life?
Let's look at a couple examples that might help you:
You're at a restaurant, you're on track this week to make all your healthy eating choices. You're with a group of clients or business associates. Then the server comes up to you and asks the most deadly question, "what will you have for dessert today?"
So it's at this point that you ask yourself "what's the payoff choosing dessert?"
There's a second question that you need to ask to reinforce what the payoff is for you:
Will I regret this choice?
If the answer is yes you would regret the choice because choosing a 500 or 700 calorie dessert, you'll regret it because it nullifies all the hard work put into your week of solid nutrition and exercise to meet your fitness goals, then don't choose the dessert, look for an alternative.
The alternative might be a fruit plate so that at the same time everybody else is munching on desserts, you can still participate with the act of eating and enjoying that with folks.
However on the other hand, if you ask yourself, "will I regret this?" and the answer is no because in your plan for this week you've actually allotted one or two desserts that you can eat and today just happens to be the one dessert that you've chosen to allot time and schedule to eat then I say go for it and enjoy the dessert.
Let's look at another scenario. You're working on reducing your debt and conscientiously paying off your debt so you can further your financial net worth. An amazing sale comes into your inbox telling you that you can save 50% on something that you've been looking at for quite some time. Your tempted to pull out your credit card and hit the buy button.
Let's ask yourself two questions:
First what is the payoff to making this decision?
Will buying this item improve your quality of life?
Do you have the discretionary cash set aside to make this purchase?
If so, will you regret making this purchase one week from now, two weeks from now, one month from now when your credit card bill comes in?
Another situation, maybe you're tempted to give up your personal time in order to meet the needs of somebody else.
You might be tempted to give up your reading time, your workout time, or just getting to bed a little bit earlier tonight so that you're well rested for the day ahead of you tomorrow.
All of this is because somebody has made a demand on you to help them or do something for them and it's usually a last-minute request.
It's in this situation that you need to realize that you matter most.
And yes you matter and the decisions that you make matter as well. So ask yourself this question what's the payoff to helping this person and fulfilling the request?
Secondly, will I regret exchanging my personal time in order to help this person?
If the answer is that the payoff will help further and strengthen your relationship, or helping this person fulfills one of your goals, then the payoff might be great. If you won't regret trading that keep personal time that you had planned for one of your goals to help this person and you can wake up tomorrow and think about it a few days later and know that that was a great decision, then go for it.
But if the answer to either question above is no, there's no direct payoff, and yes I will certainly regret sacrificing my personal time to fulfill this request at this moment, then the answer is to give a firm positive no and negotiate an alternative time that you can help them. Negotiate a time that meets both of your objectives and calendar availability.
As you go through this week, ask yourself these two questions every time you're forced to make a decision.
I can guarantee you that if you ask these powerful questions in the moment, your choices will be better, and the results from your decisions will be optimal.
I'm Shane Fielder with Samurai Innovation where we blend the secrets of the samurai with cutting-edge strategies to sharpen you and your business results. Drop me a line at shane(at)samuraiinnovation.com this week or respond to the email that I sent out to you so that we can have a conversation and how it can support you further in this mindset building week that you're going to have in front of you.
You might be watching us somewhere else, so make sure you subscribe to our channel or in the notes section of today's episode go in and read the transcript at our homepage Samurai Innovation. We have lots of great tools and resources that you can access for free so that we can help support you in your journey.
Domo Arigato.
End of Mindset Monday Transcript
What key decision will you improve this week because of this model?
Don't pile up the regrets of your life simply because you get swept away in the moment of a key decision.
Leave us a comment below and share with us how this model could have helped you in the past so that other Dojo Members don't have to reinvent the wheel.
Domo Arigato.
