1
00:00:03,400 --> 00:00:09,360
Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,

2
00:00:10,760 --> 00:00:16,880
Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's

3
00:00:16,920 --> 00:00:21,560
Speaker 1: tip is to go on a decision spree. If you

4
00:00:21,680 --> 00:00:26,000
Speaker 1: need to make lots of small decisions, challenge yourself to

5
00:00:26,079 --> 00:00:30,560
Speaker 1: do them in a short period of time. You probably

6
00:00:30,600 --> 00:00:34,080
Speaker 1: won't be worse off in terms of outcomes, but you

7
00:00:34,120 --> 00:00:37,400
Speaker 1: will be better off in terms of saving time, and

8
00:00:37,560 --> 00:00:42,600
Speaker 1: that is a win either way. Today's tip, like some

9
00:00:42,680 --> 00:00:45,720
Speaker 1: others this week, comes from Nell Wolfhart, who is a

10
00:00:45,720 --> 00:00:50,640
Speaker 1: decision coach. Nell helps people make better and swifter decisions.

11
00:00:51,760 --> 00:00:54,480
Speaker 1: She shared some of her favorite decision making tips with

12
00:00:54,560 --> 00:00:57,800
Speaker 1: me so I could share them with Before Breakfast listeners.

13
00:00:58,840 --> 00:01:01,880
Speaker 1: If you want to learn more about Nell's work, you

14
00:01:01,880 --> 00:01:07,080
Speaker 1: can visit her website at Decide and move Forward dot com.

15
00:01:08,720 --> 00:01:13,679
Speaker 1: When people are really dithering about big things, Nell challenges

16
00:01:13,720 --> 00:01:15,920
Speaker 1: them to cut the amount of time they have to

17
00:01:16,000 --> 00:01:20,120
Speaker 1: make the decision. Whether you give yourself a month or

18
00:01:20,200 --> 00:01:23,520
Speaker 1: two weeks, you are still going to have to decide,

19
00:01:24,480 --> 00:01:27,919
Speaker 1: so it is often best too. As her website name suggests,

20
00:01:28,560 --> 00:01:32,840
Speaker 1: Decide and Move Forward. But she notes that this also

21
00:01:32,880 --> 00:01:38,360
Speaker 1: applies to small decisions. If you are chronically indecisive. She suggests,

22
00:01:39,080 --> 00:01:42,360
Speaker 1: I recommend getting a stack of post it notes and

23
00:01:42,480 --> 00:01:45,440
Speaker 1: on each one writing a decision you've been trying to make.

24
00:01:46,440 --> 00:01:48,480
Speaker 1: What meal to prep for the week, what to wear

25
00:01:48,600 --> 00:01:51,160
Speaker 1: to that friend's wedding, where to go on spring break?

26
00:01:52,320 --> 00:01:56,840
Speaker 1: Then she suggests, set a timer for thirty minutes and

27
00:01:56,960 --> 00:02:00,480
Speaker 1: just go right through the stack and make each decision

28
00:02:01,160 --> 00:02:06,080
Speaker 1: right now. Here's the magic Now notes that you will

29
00:02:06,120 --> 00:02:09,360
Speaker 1: likely see that the decision quality is just as good

30
00:02:09,880 --> 00:02:13,920
Speaker 1: as if you'd agonize over each and every one. But

31
00:02:14,040 --> 00:02:18,360
Speaker 1: the upside is that this process takes a lot less time.

32
00:02:20,040 --> 00:02:22,959
Speaker 1: I really like this idea of a decision spree for

33
00:02:23,000 --> 00:02:26,680
Speaker 1: a few reasons. One is that it resembles one of

34
00:02:26,720 --> 00:02:30,400
Speaker 1: my favorite time management rules, which is to batch the

35
00:02:30,480 --> 00:02:34,960
Speaker 1: little things. Rather than filling out permission slips and those

36
00:02:35,000 --> 00:02:38,600
Speaker 1: forms for HR and buying birthday presents and giving your

37
00:02:38,720 --> 00:02:41,919
Speaker 1: RSVP for the networking lunch. Whenever you think about these things,

38
00:02:42,720 --> 00:02:45,560
Speaker 1: you save up all these tasks for a low energy

39
00:02:45,600 --> 00:02:50,880
Speaker 1: time and do them all in one fell swoop. When

40
00:02:50,880 --> 00:02:54,200
Speaker 1: you think about it, many small tasks are in fact

41
00:02:54,760 --> 00:02:59,320
Speaker 1: decisions what to buy for that birthday, how to answer

42
00:02:59,360 --> 00:03:02,600
Speaker 1: that ridiculous HR question If you are going to that

43
00:03:02,720 --> 00:03:06,920
Speaker 1: networking lunch or not. If you are indecisive, those little

44
00:03:06,960 --> 00:03:10,440
Speaker 1: decisions can hold up getting a lot done. It seems

45
00:03:10,480 --> 00:03:14,560
Speaker 1: hard to decide, and so we put things off. But

46
00:03:14,600 --> 00:03:18,000
Speaker 1: if you give yourself a small window and say that

47
00:03:18,040 --> 00:03:21,919
Speaker 1: you have to come up with something, you can stop

48
00:03:21,960 --> 00:03:26,000
Speaker 1: yourself from looking at all the universe of options. You

49
00:03:26,080 --> 00:03:30,000
Speaker 1: will wear whatever you have that looks good to the wedding.

50
00:03:31,240 --> 00:03:34,560
Speaker 1: You will buy whatever comes up as Amazon's recommendation for

51
00:03:34,639 --> 00:03:38,200
Speaker 1: eleven year old girls. You will just answer whatever you

52
00:03:38,240 --> 00:03:41,880
Speaker 1: think seems right on that form. Because here's the thing,

53
00:03:42,720 --> 00:03:47,120
Speaker 1: most of these small decisions don't really matter. You can

54
00:03:47,160 --> 00:03:50,320
Speaker 1: go to the networking lunch or not go. If you go,

55
00:03:50,480 --> 00:03:52,760
Speaker 1: you might have a nice time and meet one or

56
00:03:52,800 --> 00:03:56,480
Speaker 1: two new people. Maybe you will meet someone who wants

57
00:03:56,480 --> 00:03:58,680
Speaker 1: to go into business with you, and the two of

58
00:03:58,680 --> 00:04:02,240
Speaker 1: you come up with a billion dollar idea, but probably not.

59
00:04:03,480 --> 00:04:05,680
Speaker 1: If you don't go, you'll do something else that day,

60
00:04:06,400 --> 00:04:10,440
Speaker 1: and you'll meet other people at other things. No one

61
00:04:10,480 --> 00:04:13,160
Speaker 1: really cares what you wear to that wedding as long

62
00:04:13,200 --> 00:04:16,479
Speaker 1: as you don't make a spectacle of yourself. Once you

63
00:04:16,520 --> 00:04:20,799
Speaker 1: realize that, you see that what you decide really doesn't

64
00:04:20,880 --> 00:04:23,960
Speaker 1: need to be that big a deal. So you can

65
00:04:24,000 --> 00:04:27,520
Speaker 1: decide quickly based on what seems like a good decision,

66
00:04:29,000 --> 00:04:32,720
Speaker 1: then you can get on with your life. Much is

67
00:04:32,800 --> 00:04:36,640
Speaker 1: fine either way. There will be some good things that

68
00:04:36,680 --> 00:04:39,200
Speaker 1: happen and some bad things no matter what you choose.

69
00:04:40,279 --> 00:04:43,159
Speaker 1: But if you make all your decisions in a decision spree,

70
00:04:44,080 --> 00:04:47,400
Speaker 1: then you will have time left over for other things

71
00:04:47,440 --> 00:04:51,680
Speaker 1: that are generally more fun than experiencing severe in decision.

72
00:04:52,760 --> 00:04:56,960
Speaker 1: So that sounds like a real wind to me. If

73
00:04:57,000 --> 00:04:59,360
Speaker 1: you try going on a decision spree, let me know

74
00:04:59,400 --> 00:05:02,400
Speaker 1: how it goes, and be sure to check out Nell

75
00:05:02,480 --> 00:05:08,960
Speaker 1: Wolfhart's decision making tips at decide and move forward dot com.

76
00:05:09,000 --> 00:05:13,919
Speaker 1: In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and

77
00:05:14,120 --> 00:05:23,760
Speaker 1: here's to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody,

78
00:05:24,000 --> 00:05:26,120
Speaker 1: I'd love to hear from you. You can send me

79
00:05:26,160 --> 00:05:29,800
Speaker 1: your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with

80
00:05:29,800 --> 00:05:34,239
Speaker 1: me on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod

81
00:05:34,880 --> 00:05:39,200
Speaker 1: that's B the number four then Breakfast p o D.

82
00:05:40,080 --> 00:05:42,920
Speaker 1: You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast

83
00:05:43,000 --> 00:05:46,920
Speaker 1: Podcasts at iHeartMedia dot com That Before Breakfast is spelled

84
00:05:46,920 --> 00:05:49,440
Speaker 1: out with all the letters. Thanks so much. Should I

85
00:05:49,440 --> 00:05:57,520
Speaker 1: look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a

86
00:05:57,520 --> 00:06:02,279
Speaker 1: production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the

87
00:06:02,279 --> 00:06:06,080
Speaker 1: iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your

88
00:06:06,120 --> 00:06:14,120
Speaker 1: favorite shows. For four