Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,
Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
Speaker 1: tip is about a wiser way to make decisions. Consider
Speaker 1: how strong everyone's preferences are. That can guide you toward
Speaker 1: choices that don't leave people feeling resentful. Perhaps you have
Speaker 1: heard the classic relationship advice to understand just how important
Speaker 1: certain things are to your other half. If you would
Speaker 1: rather stay home for Christmas and your partner would rather
Speaker 1: spend the holidays at his parents' house, that may seem
Speaker 1: like an impasse. But if we ask the strength of
Speaker 1: everyone's preferences, this can change things. On a scale of
Speaker 1: one to ten, how much do you care? If you
Speaker 1: realize the importance of you staying home is a four,
Speaker 1: but your partner views seeing his parents as an eight,
Speaker 1: then you can see why it might be wise to
Speaker 1: make the trip, albeit maybe a shorter one so you
Speaker 1: can have some time at home as well. Or maybe
Speaker 1: you are deciding between two pink colors. He prefers one
Speaker 1: and you prefer the other. But when you rate your
Speaker 1: preferences on a scale of one to ten, both of
Speaker 1: you pick three. The truth is neither of you care
Speaker 1: all that much, so just pick something and stop worrying
Speaker 1: about it. You aren't going to be put out by
Speaker 1: a different choice, and you won't worry that your partner
Speaker 1: will be resentful if you go with your choice. It's
Speaker 1: all good. Generally speaking, when the importance of a decision
Speaker 1: is pretty low to both of you, then you don't
Speaker 1: want to sink too much time into reaching a decision.
Speaker 1: If the importance is low to one person and high
Speaker 1: to the other, you will usually both be happier if
Speaker 1: you go with the preference of the person that the
Speaker 1: decision is more important to. Now. Of course, this doesn't
Speaker 1: always work. There are some people who will claim everything
Speaker 1: is a ten, but honestly, if you are married to
Speaker 1: someone with a bulldozer of a personality, you already know
Speaker 1: that you already know that this tip isn't for you.
Speaker 1: But for most people this probably won't be an issue.
Speaker 1: Both of you are generally reasonable people, and while you
Speaker 1: like your preferences, you don't want to paint the walls
Speaker 1: white if you don't care that much about interior design
Speaker 1: and your partner has been dreaming of a nice, sunny
Speaker 1: yellow bedroom since childhood. By adding the question on a scale,
Speaker 1: of one to ten, how important is that to you
Speaker 1: to all your decisions. You will make it possible to
Speaker 1: make quick decisions when you don't have strong preferences, and
Speaker 1: you will invest your time into making the decisions that
Speaker 1: matter most to both of you. I will add that
Speaker 1: this question can be helpful for making joint decisions with
Speaker 1: roommates and friends too. If you are choosing between sushi
Speaker 1: and Italian for dinner, and one person has been fantasizing
Speaker 1: all day about her spicy tuneroles, that's good to know.
Speaker 1: You can ask yourself this question as well for individual choices.
Speaker 1: For instance, maybe you are looking for a laptop bag.
Speaker 1: You want one that fits your laptop easily, has a
Speaker 1: zippered top, and a light lining. If you can't find
Speaker 1: one that you like that has all three of those features,
Speaker 1: you can ask yourself how important each feature is on
Speaker 1: a scale of one to ten. Maybe you will decide
Speaker 1: that fitting your laptop and zipping are both nines, but
Speaker 1: the light color lining is just a four. So you
Speaker 1: go with a bag with a black lining and learn
Speaker 1: to live with it precisely because you can live with
Speaker 1: it in a way that would be harder to do
Speaker 1: if your laptop was always sticking out of the top
Speaker 1: of your two small bag. Decision made no need to
Speaker 1: spend more time exploring the universe of options. Not every
Speaker 1: hill is a hill to die on. By using a
Speaker 1: scale of one to ten, we are able to focus
Speaker 1: on what is important to us and let go of
Speaker 1: what is not. In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks
Speaker 1: for listening, and here's to making the most of our time.
Speaker 1: Hey everybody, I'd love to hear from you. You can
Speaker 1: send me your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just
Speaker 1: connect with me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before
Speaker 1: Breakfast Pod. That's b E the number four then Breakfast pod.
Speaker 1: You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast
Speaker 1: Podcast at iHeartMedia dot com. That before Breakfast is spelled
Speaker 1: out with all the letters. Thanks so much, sh I
Speaker 1: look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a
Speaker 1: production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the
Speaker 1: iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your
Speaker 1: favorite shows.