A couple of weeks ago I interviewed Stephanie Frank. I have been a fan of Stephanie’s for a few years since I read her book – The Automatic Millionaire. I’m an even bigger fan now because the information she shared on our call was so straightforward and actionable. My favorite tip from the call was her 5 minute secret to decision making.
I don’t know about you but sometimes when faced with choices in my pet sitting business I worry and put off making any changes till later. When I let fear delay my choices this often slows down progress that I could be making towards my goals.
Stephanie suggests that we make our business and personal decisions based on our set of values. Values are the characteristics by which you live your life – they identify what is important to you. Some examples of values are independence, wealth, honesty, family, service and helping other people. Everyone has a set of approximately 30 values.
Step 1 – Identify Your Values
The first step to making decision making easy is to identify your 30 life values. Take some time to make yourself a list. Then narrow down this list to your top 10 values.
Step 2 - Rank Your Top 10 Values
From you list of 10 values – rank them from number 1 (most important) to number 10 (least important). If this is touch and you can’t decide between two values which is more important try this exercise. Image that each of your hands contains one of the values. Ask yourself – If I had to choose between these two values which would I choose? One of your hands will literaly become heavier. Which ever is heavier is the value that is of lesser importance to you.
Step 3 – Ask If The Decision Supports Your Top 3 Values
When you have a decision that needs to be made take your top 3 values and ask yourself if the decision you have to make is consistant to each of your values. If you get 1 yes and 2 no’s – then the decision that you need to make is not going to help you reach your goals. If you have 3 yes votes or 2 yes votes and a no then go ahead make the decision and get going! During this process don’t try to rationalize about the decisions – just test them against your values and move on.
Case Study Example
Stephanie gave a great example during the call. When she bought her home in Arizona she discovered that she had five dog kennels. Being a great dog lover Stephanie was drawn to and was excited about the opportunity to start her own dog boarding or day care facility. However she is a speaker who travels around the country and her number one value is independence. When she sat down and separated the decisions from her emotions and asked herself honestly if starting a dog care facility supported her value of indepence she had to say no. To make the business work she would have to take on staff and manage that while travelling and that would take away from her being able to do what she wanted when she wanted to do it.
Try out this secret next time you make a decision in your business – and let me know how it goes by leaving a comment.
If you’d like to hear my full interview with Stephanie and learn her secrets to 100% productivity, how to avoid financially sabotaging yourself, and her one secret all successful people know that you don’t learn in school – then become a member of the Pet Sitting Success Circle for just $7 today. You will have immediate access to the recording of the call and call transcript – as well as the recordings of 10 other calls with business experts and pet sitters.