Strategic Decision-Making

You're listening to Uppercase Life, the show about turning the volume on your life up to 11. And I'm your host, Joseph Brewster.

If you're anything like me, you have a lot of decisions to make every day. And those decisions are of varying levels of importance. I think if you've been in this headspace of trying to improve yourself and be mindful about your time and about your choices, you've already run into some content telling you you have to be willing to say no.
And I don't disagree with that. You do have to be willing to say no. You also have to be willing to say yes. And maybe you're a person whose natural tendency is already to say yes. Maybe you just feel guilty and you say yes when people ask you to do something. Or maybe you're actually inclined to try new things and you don't like to turn down opportunities.
So you say yes more often than you should. Or maybe you're on the other side of things and you tend to be averse to novelty and to new things, and you just say no. You like to stick to your schedule, you don't like change, you don't like being thrown off. And so no is your first response. But sometimes we have this idea that those are the only two answers we can give to a question.
So if we're asked if we want to do something or if we can go somewhere, we have a yes and we have a no. Now, somewhere out there, someone is saying, but there's another option. You could say, maybe. And that is true, but maybe really isn't a decision. If you think about it, maybe is just delaying the act of actually making the decision.
So saying maybe just is procrastinating what you eventually have to decide. I want to present to you this idea that no and yes are a false dichotomy of decision making. And what I mean by that is that we're sort of led to believe that you can either say yes or you can say no, and there's nothing else. But the truth is, we aren't bound to yes and no answers.
We're seeking to live a meaningful life. Right? An intentional life. And that. Yes, no binary can really hamper your effectiveness and maybe even reduce your productivity. So think of it in this way. Let's take, for example, a friend calls you and suggests going to a movie tonight. They want to go at 930 and the theater they want to attend is a bit of a distance from your house and you're thinking, well, I have an early morning call for work.
I really would like to go with my friend. I would like to see the movie. But if I do and I stay out late, I don't know if I'm going to be in a good headspace for the call in the morning. And so you feel torn. So the part of you that wants the pleasure says, I should say yes and go have fun and just be tired.
And the part of you that's responsible is saying, no, I should go to bed. But can you think of an alternative to either of these answers? Let's look at another scenario. Let's say that you, in your work environment, have been given an opportunity by a supervisor to be part of a project. They've asked you to head up a portion of a project and do some things that you've never done before.
They're different. You don't have a lot of expertize in it, but it looks like it would be a great opportunity. However, you're a little concerned that it's not in your wheelhouse and you just are not going to do well at this project and you feel like, Well, I can't say no to my boss. You know, here's a chance for me to move up, for me to accomplish something.
But I also feel like saying yes to this is going to put me in a compromising situation, and I don't know if I'll be able to deliver. Can you think of an alternative to a yes or no answer? I want you to think of decision making in this way. I want you to think of decision making as being a strategic response that is providing the highest value outcome for everyone involved in.
If all you have in your decision making arsenal is yes and no, then you are severely lacking in strategy. Because let's go with scenario. What your friend is asked to go out to this movie. They've given you the location, they've given you the time, and you feel a conflict of interest in your head. But you can easily propose a counterproposal to their initial proposition and say what if, instead of going at 930, we went to this showing.
I just looked up at 645 and there's actually a theater a little bit closer to me. I could do that. Now, that's not too hard. It does require a little bit of thought on your side, but you could find a compromise here, which not only allows you to do this thing, but actually works out better for everyone involved.
Here's the thing we tend to think that when someone asks us a question, they have already worked through the dilemma and have presented us with the yes and no. But that's usually not the case, actually. A lot of times people are just giving us the first draft of the proposition. Our job is to look at it, evaluate it, and then maybe sometimes you need to present a counterproposal because, look, we're trying to be leaders.
If you're listening to this right now, you're not the kind of person who says to yourself, are, whatever, I don't care about my decisions. You know, I just want to get done with work and go home and sit on the couch. That sort of person doesn't listen to podcasts like this. If you're listening to this right now, what you want is you want to be investing in the highest value opportunity.
You want to be using your time and you want to be doing quality things. And in order to do that, you're going to have to start being a leader with the way that you make decisions about your time. Let's look at the second scenario. Let's say you've been given this opportunity at work. Now, your supervisor, if they're worth anything, should expect that you have an understanding of your own capabilities and your skill level, and you will be able to respond to this request in intelligent way.
So maybe you look at this proposal and say, I would really like to be part of this project and I think I could be useful on this team. However, I think that my skill set would be better served over here, and I don't think that putting me in this role is going to be the best case scenario for everyone on the project.
That is a really thoughtful and mature answer, and it will save you sometimes getting into situations where you can't deliver on the thing you promised because all you did was accept the first proposition. So ask yourself, what are some ways in which I can make strategic responses and provide high quality outcomes for everyone involved? So I'm actually helping them achieve their goals even better than they thought they could.
And I'm also putting myself in a position of strength to do that thing. Well, here's a really simple example that I remember instituting. So I have small children and well, actually, my children are growing up now. They're not as small as they used to be. But I've had small children because that's the way the age thing works. They weren't always the same age.
And, you know, children ask you to do things, and rightfully so. In fact, that's really to me an honor as a parent that my child says, Dad, would you come, you know, whatever play with me or watch cartoon with me or any of those things. When my child asks me that I don't know about you, but I think, yeah, I want to do that thing.
And of course, they don't have a concept of how your day is going or what your responsibilities are. So oftentimes, children will present you those scenarios in times you can't take advantage of them. And a lot of times as parents to the children, we appear like people who are constantly turning them down. So they say, Hey, Dad, would you play Legos with me?
And we're like, Not right now, sorry, I've got to work. And we're, Hey, can we go watch a movie? And you're like, Not right now. I can drop everything, go watch movie. I've got stuff to do. But, you know, you don't have to be saying no to your child all the time. And this was a revelation for me because I was putting some of these things into practice in my own life as a young parent.
And I realized that I can actually give strategic responses to this that makes both of us happy. So if my child approaches me and says, Hey, Dad, would you play Legos with me? And I am sitting at my computer doing client work? I don't have to say no, but I also don't have to stand up and go play Legos in that moment.
What I can do, and this is a very freeing realization, is say, yes, I will play Legos with you. That sounds awesome. I tell you what, it's 330 right now. Let's play Legos at 6:00. I'll be off. Work will be done eating. And then we can just play Legos all we want that child is going to see that response and feel like you actually thought of them.
You thought of the request that they brought to you and you found a solution to the scenario, which is in everybody's best interest. That is strategic decision making. So think about it. What could you do to be more intentional? What could you do to increase your influence in your effectiveness and to reduce the difficulty and enjoy a better outcome all around for the sort of decisions that you're making before you say yes or no.
Ask yourself, Is there a better solution? Allow yourself to think like a leader. Don't be afraid to improve on the first draft of an option to make it better and make the most of every opportunity. Strategic decision making. Leadership. Trust me, the people around you will appreciate it. It will be better for all of us. If you think about your decisions and don't restrict yourself with a simple yes or no

Thanks for joining us on the show today. I'd love to hear your feedback, your comments or your questions, and you can email me at TheUppercaseLife@gmail.com. And if you enjoyed this, consider leaving us a good rating so other people can find it as well. And until next time, live like it matters.