Life tests us quite often, right?
Sometimes we test ourselves, right?

But the moment when fate or someone else decides about what´s next on YOUR plate you only have 1 CHOICE:  will I take it or will I pass it on(?) …. right?

Okay, here´s what this post is about:
If you know my story, you know that I couldn´t choose consciously either to take my fate or to pass it on to someone else.  I HAD TO take it.  Fact.  Many of you, my dear readers, get the chance to decide whether to take a choice or NOT.

Many of you face the challenge to have so many options to choose from that you don´t think of the 1st step which is: defining the eliminating critera to cross out what´s not relevant for you and your life.  Right?  That might be hard to do, I agree.

In the meantime, as a result which developed throughout my life, I choose to consider my fate as a “role” I am willing to play, or not.
You know, I can choose to be the typical patient with a rare genetic disease who suffers the reality of NO research, no treatments nor a process to follow to reduce the outcome of the symptoms to a minimum.  This fact forced me to play a victim of the 20th and 21st Century, almost for all my life.  Being a kind of victim of a running system which doesn´t consider me/us at all taught me to dance in the rain  – yes.

Since I choose LEARNING as a method to get out or away from this victim-role, one day, I found a solution.  When I learned much – due to a ton of lack of information – I choose to start playing this role:  learning taught me to write my script with my own lines, with MY communication and I knew where my stage was!  I knew I was a lone player and my own director of the play, and that was the moment when everything slowly changed and then suddenly switched.  I was holding the scepter in MY hands!

No more single power by the person on the other side of the table.  I produced my own powerful role and I kept this power close to me like a friend, to be his teamplayer on the special stage.  It chased my old fate away – for good.

Now back to you:  YOU may have many choices, being challenged to eliminate those options which don´t really move you towards your dreams and goals.  You also need orientation to be able to eliminate.  Your method is to check out WHO you are:  know your current education, your talents and your hobbies.  That´s all what´s inside of you, what you own and what attracked you in the past before you accepted it in your life.

It´s part of your natural resonance.  Therefore, gather all your single puzzle pieces and connect them to a bigger picture to be able to go out and get THE job!

After you did the maths (!) of this information, check out which job matches most and research what the markets asks for.  You need to make money in life if it´s about a job!

Write down a few options on a piece of paper –  and hey, I love the advice by John Baldoni! He speaks about a method how to pick a potential option and then check how it makes you feel if THIS is it, for good: Choice in a bowl

I never did that!  Try it next time you don´t know which option to choose!  Pick it like a self written lottery ticket!  But just do it to check your feelings about it, about the consequences and the things you won´t get with this 1 choice.  Deciding means to resign.

That´s a good method how to figure out who you are and what you´re most capable of, long-termly.  The tactic when choosing is to see what´s most easy for you by talent and education because THEN, and only then you´ll have fun with what you do all day! Good feeling, good choice.

Be prepared with the selected options for the bowl and then test your feelings.  Afterwards you may go deeper of why THIS one wasn´t feeling well as a next step decision and why THAT one made you feel very well!  It helps you understand even better WHO you are.

You don´t have to take it all, choose wisely what to pass on and what to keep and work with!  YOU have the choice if it is not offered by fate, because that´s a completely different story…..

BE A DECISION MAKER.  BE OUTSTANDING.

rita jaskolla – Leadership Architect

In my new video clip “3 Methods as a Module”  VIDEO  you receive an important message from me:

to make smart and successful decisions you can use 3 Methods:  the Factual Image Description + Learning + Decision Making.

LEARNING helps you fill the gap, when you lack some important information. It´s part of your Information Management.  It´s no guarantee but it supports understanding WHERE you are, WHAT you are and WHO you are – whatever needs to be clear for your decision. You need a clear understanding when it comes to taking the consequences of your choice. Walking the consequences, often for months and years, brings you towards your goal and destination.

This is where the proverb “the journey is the reward” comes from!
BTW, in Germany we say: the path/route is the destination.

Learning shall cover the missing aspects of your alternatives. Almost everyone of us was confronted with learning at school. We started with the A, B, C and then we started reading words and sentences. We started with learning the basics to understand a language.  Finally we were able to read properly.

Follow this RULE

It is the beeline (shortish) and that means you can safe some precious time here. When it comes to learning something new to cover the lack of information, go for the basics!  Start with the A, B, C of the topic, where things come from.  Find and start with understanding the origin – it helps you speeding forward to the spot where you are missing something.  Information has to make sense!

LEARNING  can be so much fun!
UNDERSTANDING  will be so much fun!
KNOWING  is Gold.

Knowing is no guarantee for successful decision making.  Knowing helps you forgiving yourself or others when it comes to making a wrong choice, a choice which didn´t bring you forward, nor towards the goal you were aiming at or at solving the problem quickly.  Sometimes you need to decide again, and again to find the process, the path….. Knowing eases you off.

Which book did you read lately?  So, what did you learn?

BE A DECISION MAKER.  BECOME OUTSTANDING.

rita jaskolla – Leadership Architect

If you put LEARNING for successful decision making onto your plate of hobbies,
you´re on your way to success!  Learning helps you to improve your current situation.

3 TIPS  about what LEARNING as a hobby should mean to you:

1. Find a few nuggets, don´t expect to understand it all

If you´re reading books, you´ll remember that sometimes it´s only 1 sentence from a book that truly brings you forward with an issue.  Sometimes it´s a certain “aha”-effect that lights up your mind!  Sometimes it´s the full story which makes you understand that we all walk the same path.

Keep in mind that stories of others will not always be a perfect fit for your personal issue – mainly in terms of their information because “their strings attached” are different from yours.  You can´t copy situations from others in hope to get the SAME outcome (!) like they did, but if 1 more bulb lights up in your head you´re 1 step further than the minute before.

2.  If you lack certain information, go ahead and check out what this issue is about

If you know you´re missing something, do not (always) ignore it.  Instead, call an expert on this issue and make an appointment and read 1 – 2 books.  Choose the books by its titles, plus: check their authors (choose experts !)  and flip through some pages to make sure you will learn from it.  Learn the basics of the issue first!  Choose books which tell how things start, that´s a rule for successful learning.  Basics offer valuable insides.  They make you understand the source of the trouble.  Understanding keeps you calm and motivated!  Don´t underestimate this –

3.   Make notes, a single line sometimes does it (!)

If you read a book – buy it to make notes inside of it, with a pen or a marker!  If you learn well by writing down relevant information, this is the best method to keep the new info in mind.  If you´re a listener, if you learn well by listening to someone, tape it!  Speak to yourself, explain yourself what you´ve learned and re-play to listen to it at least twice per month (!) to get the learning effect.  At the beginning, do it weekly.  Then bi-weekly.  Hang up the notes you wrote to see them more often!  Read it.
Alternatively, listen to your voice and message in the car or elsewhere when going to work or university or when visiting friends. If you learn by discussions, speak with friends, invite them to talk it through. One rule is to follow:  go with the facts, avoid any story telling aspects!!  ….don´t fool yourself.

Now the rather bad news: do this with every open issue you have on your plate.  Concentrate on 2 – 3 issues first.  Solve them.  If you want to fix things in your life and at work, LEARN what´s important to know.  There´s none who comes along once in a while to drop some information on your desk.

Life is no fairy tale!  A fairy tale is a method which offers people a hidden information, wrapped in a story.  It´s an indirect tool to offer encrypted information, free for everyone.  Only the one who will decipher it receives the message.  It´s entertaining, yes, and it´s time consuming.  If you go with the facts, you´re faster and you keep your mind clear!  A clear mind helps to focus on YOUR issue only.  Take this chance to improve –

BE A DECISION MAKER.  BE OUTSTANDING.

rita jaskolla – Leadership Architect

I am quite sure that many of us use the MONEY factor as a MAIN CRITERIA for our decisions!
I am right?
Do you agree?

I often used it myself but, in the meantime I start to avoid this criteria …..

If we use MONEY as the main criteria for our decisions in life we link ourselves to our current bank account, to the cash we own and to the money we´ll make, sooner or later.  We lock ourselves into a small world.  Then, we´re trapped.

Imagine you don´t think of the available money you own right now!!
Imagine, you use another strategy when you prepare for a big decision in life.
What, if you alternatively start focussing on:

• what you can learn about the decision´s consequences for yourself
• how much time you´ll rather invest to avoid extra/high payments
• who can support your information management
• what if: money wouldn´t matter?

I will offer you 4 examples in total and today I start with the 1st. Example:

Imagine you need to pay monthly for something which you can´t avoid for the next months, due to whatever new situation in life which will bring you forward.  HOW do you decide for the effort/service you have to take?  Which CRITERIA do you choose if it´s not a MONEY criteria?  The money issue trapps you.  Alternatively, hey – look at the consequences – – –

It could be monthly payments for a car, payments for a bigger apartment, payments for a trip you have to do twice per month or twice per week.  Fact is, you have to take it!
….and you won´t look at the money.  So, which are your considerable CRITERIA if it´s not money?

CAR:
The extra SM-service the car offers?
The speed & security the car offers?
The great brand which offers you a permanent free lane?
The comfortable seats?
The great stereo it has?
–>  If you look at other criteria you really WANT in your life, then the money factor is adjustable!

Different (smaller, bigger, or extra)  APARTMENT:
The location?
The size?
The luxury it offers inside?
The neighbours you´ll meet?
How long it takes to get to your daily destination from there?
Nearness in KM or MILES to the next Freeway/Autobahn?

TRIP:
The route you chose?   (Freeway/Autobahn OR country road/Landstraße)
The way you´ll travel?  Directly (car) or indirectly (plane, train, tram, bus)?
The time the trip is going to consume?
The people you´ll potentially meet when travelling?
The risk of an accident?

To figure out what´s really important for you, aside of the money factor, you may also watch my video about setting and evaluating your criteria: video clip

Setting criteria isn´t so much about being creative, it includes a big part of LEARNING.  You have to generate as much information as possible to gain a lot of criteria.  It´s the info about your criteria that helps you make better decisions!  Knowing more criteria aspects is a special “service” for yourself.

In my next post I´ll give some examples to show how to exchange the money factor with the time factor, again to avoid traps.  If you have question, pls. leave a note!

BE A DECISION MAKER.  BECOME OUTSTANDING.

rita jaskolla – Leadership Architect

TIME = Money

TIME equals MONEY, is what life teaches us and mostly, it´s RIGHT.  It´s a rule we shall think of, but – not by 100 %.  Sometimes the relevant TIME we are able to INVEST is worth it!  There are things when money can´t buy us….. what we´d love to have or reach.

LEARNING is something we can´t buy.  We can´t buy a special experience in the shop next door, we can´t buy a necessary adventure at the gas-station and we can´t buy self explaining aha-moments.

When it comes to do some extra learning, the money we have to invest to get it – is WORH it, IF the result brings us forward. Learning helps us prevent paying TOO much in life, it keeps us away from extra payments which won´t affect our result, positively.

HOW do you LEARN in a smart way?

Figure out the exact NEED.  You start with your research at the right place, under the right roof of matching titles & content.  It can be from books and from movies who offer information about the topic.  You can book a class and study, doing a complex course, either locally in your town (invest some weekends) or online (invest some months) if it helps you best solving your issue.  Call an expert whom you can trust.

If you´re in a new country and you need a special advice about the city, you don´t want to waste time asking the tourist on the street, who stroll along with you – no, you go into a small shop, where locals work and you ask them, politely.  They know the rules, other people, shops & restaurants you look for and streets you want to find.  It´s the fastes way to get ahead!

IF you can´t find the exact expert to get quick help…. if you face such a situation, it´s the best place to start learning.  Help yourself!  Be responsible for your results!  If you “drive” yourself, you will get to YOUR destintation, without any detour.

1 TIP:  Only LEARN what´s relevant for you.  You don´t have to learn the whole complex of a topic, just pick the basics to start from and then turn to the relevant details.  That´s it!  Make sure to be sure –

At work:  if you have to learn something new, at least have 3 people from 3 different places to whom you can turn to.  Turn to them if they are all involved in the process, at different places.  This way they can tell you details about the “running” of the process, because THEY help make it RUN.  That helps for your understanding!  Such contacts give information about the complex structure in a simple way.  That´s all you need to learn.  Fact.

In case you plan to learn via EXPERIENCE, be a reporter, be the journalist!  Book a trip to the place where things happen.  Be there “live” and …… afterwards, gather what you´ve learned that day.  Write your own report for yourself.  Work with facts and data only.  Talk about what you see, what you hear, what you feel.

If it´s an ADVENTURE you want to learn from, get ready and go out to learn from it.
Yes, it might be risky in an emotional way, but that´s how it works in life.  Adventures offer an open-ending!  They only come with a clear start.  The rest is up to you and your environment.  Whatever is going to happen….. is your adventure.
Instead of paying extra money, you pay by investing emotionally to gain etxra experience.  All you involve and link to this investment is: TIME.  Let it work for you!

If you make the right EXPERIENCE right away, you will go home with a small invest of time.  Be wise!  What kind of experience do you NEED? What is it that you plan to experience, to learn from?  If you have the answer, you´re close to your result.

A-HA moments:  my favourites!  It´s those seconds when another bulb lights up in your brain and you say out loud: “oh, this is how it works/goes!” Alternatively: “Oh, this is how it feels!”
THIS kind of learning never goes it away. It stays forever.  It´s like a bright star you easily spot in your own dark sky….. those moments make you SMART and wise.

The a-ha moments are linked to your new experience and to the most adventurous moments.  Experience can be done on a factual way while adventures involve the emotional learning due to the open-ending.  They stay as an imprint.

In the end it´s up to you to say STOP and think it over:  How much Time is Worth it? ……

BE A DECISION MAKER.  BE OUTSTANDING.

rita jaskolla – Leadership Architect

Deciding becomes interesting once you´re able to work with a body of acquired knowledge!

You know, if you have enough time to learn BEFORE you HAVE TO MAKE the next bis decision, take it  – learn what´s necessary to learn.
Delegate learning to others who are involved, to your experts and to those who also work in the process.  It just has to be enough to see the whole picture in front of you.  You won´t know it all – life and business is dynamic, it changes, twirls, steps back to speeds up and this makes the world go round.

Knowledge is GOLD.  If it doesn´t help you today, it´ll support the next decision!  Knowledge is yours.  Nobody can truly take it away from you – for the same situation.  You can keep it for yourself or you may share it, but it always helps making better decisions than yesterday!

Learn the facts, add the wish or goal to it and figure out the best way to get there.  Choosing the ideal alternative is great decision making.  It is up to you what GREAT means:  with a minimum portion of time or either money or with a maximum outcome, no matter how long it takes – whatever resource is available for you.  Knowledge is the best investment you can go for.

What kind of information do you lack today?  Eliminate it by learning!  It is so easy.  GO FOR IT!  Knowledge sets you free.  Great decisions set you free –

BE A DECISION MAKER.  BECOME OUTSTANDING.

rita jaskolla – Leadership Architect

A few weeks ago I wrote a blog-post about “How To Avoid Money As a Main Criteria” when making decisions.  If we choose money as the main criteria, we lock ourselves onto a narrow range of opportunities.   We avoid to really GO FOR IT.  If this topic speaks to you, you may read it again  HERE

Fact is, we´d love to have ALL the information when we have to decide, most often – real quick.  Fact is, we won´t know it all and we have to accept some uncertainty.  So, how can we avoid the pressure of “lack of information”?

Reflect some of your last decisions in life – common, you know what´s on your plate when you move around in your own world!  You know what you want and what you don´t want in your life.
That´s already a big part of decision making!
You choose what´s necessary for you to be happy and you know exactly what makes you unhappy.  It´s under your control –

Well, so many things aren´t under your control and therefore you need to team up and involve others to support your bad Information-Management.  Fill the ugly gap of lack of information!

It can be family, friends and co-workers whom you can trust and ask for new information.  HOW?
Meet!  Invite them!  Go out with them!
Exchange your topic and your open issue with them and you´ll be astonished – positively – how well the information flow will get started –

After a while you´ll get a feeling of who is a good contact for “this topic” and who´s great for “that topic”.  A simple call to meet will help you make good decisions!
And hey, it´s not about asking them what to choose, no, its all about receiving relevant information by asking them for answers, to simply understand your decision problem and to be able to solve it with as much information as possible – because it´s YOU how makes the decision for your on-going life.  You choose to be happy, and therefore you choose your best alternative.

Take the chance and fill-up your information-Mgmt. to always be ready for making great decisions!  Make yourself smile more often and share the success with your friends and biz-partners who help you actively!

BE A DECISION MAKER.  BE OUTSTANDING.

rita jaskolla – Leadership Architect

Yesterday was a great day, it was sunny all day – filled with warm weather – it was not such a crazy day at work like before and then…. yes, then we start to make a few decisions, right?

What did I do differently?  And what did YOU do differently yesterday?

Okay, here´s what activated my decision making “program”:
I dressed in light colours, chose summer clothes and went to work at 07:00 a.m. as usual. During lunch I ate real fast and I went outside to sit in the sun for 15 minutes. There was no possibility to sit somewhere comfortable and I looked around for 1 minute…. before I chose the ground. I put my safety-shoes away to be barefoot. Keeping my eyes closed to enjoy the sun on my skin, I thought about the sunny afternoon and decided to drive to a Café downtown in the small village where I live right now. I´d do it right after work!

I drove to Café “Wild” and made clear to me that I only stay for 1 hour.  When arriving, I thought about either ordering cake or ice-cream. Well, maybe ice-cream with whipped cream on top – why not? I chose walnut ice-cream with whipped cream.  Good decision!!  I loved it.  I decided to not think about work to simply relax.

Checking their printed menu, I started making decisions for this weekend:  I´ll go again on Sunday to order a light lunch and my fav´ cake afterwards. It´s supposed to be sunny again on, that means: I can sit outside and enjoy the sunshine.

I drove home past 5:00 p.m. and made plans about my next blog-post. I decided to call my mom and see how she´s doing.  Afterwards, I made plans for my Saturday morning downtown trip. I love to fill my schedule with fun activities!

It´s fun to build a new personal DECISION TREE, a tree with many tiny decisions on top of its branches which display what we did and what we´ll do next!  I choose to plan activities with clear decisions.

How was your day, yesterday?  Tell us about it!

BE A DECISION MAKER.  BECOME OUTSTANDING.

rita jaskolla – Leadership Architect

Since January 2013, I write BLog-posts about decision making for you.
In the beginning I chose the abstract to offer details and relevant background information. In parallel I created quite some Trainings for Seminars and I started with my teaser video-clips.

As a result there was no resonance in the Internet. I assume, people seem to avoid decision making and I wondered how to go-on. Lately I came to the conclusion, just over night when I thought about my personal decisions in life, that the emotional trigger to decision making is FREEDOM!

Decisions are the only method to work on your personal freedom.  They function like a mechanism.  Decisions are also a method to lead People but that´s a different story.

If you´re afraid of decision making, you might be afraid of freedom and its responsibility. The degree of your personal freedom depends on the decision quality you make.  If you plan to gain some freedom in life, you need to be able to make good decisions – good for you and good enough to reach and keep your goals.  –> Decisions are sorting the goals!

Results of good decisions stay with you.

If you´re interested in your life and in the degree of freedom you want to reach, you should care about the qualilty of your decision making. The better you are prepared, the better the results. Keep in mind that freedom asks for a lot of responsibility.  That´s the only price you pay.

Lack of information means you should invest time to learn what you need to learn about your decision trouble.  Learning is generating information!  It´s that easy.  The better you´re prepared for each decision, the less you pay for it in life and the more stays with you.

Decision results enrich your life!

People who make decisions are free, at some point.  If you can stand to depend on yourself instead of depending only on others, then you´re ready for great decision making!

If freedom is part of your journey in life and part of your personal goal – stay with me and learn more about qualitative decision making. Every decision maker is playing a certain role in life and on earth.  I am a decision maker and you bet, I did pay a price for this status.

BE A DECISION MAKER.  BE OUTSTANDING.

rita jaskolla – Leadership Architect

In my latest video-clips (YouTube) I give you an idea of how you can walk your own path in life. By simply deciding.  It´s the path of struggle because you actively think and work on your path.  By walking your talk & wishes you set and follow your own direction.

This is not easy!
There is no director for none of us, okay – maybe for some for a few years or situations, but in reality it´s about us and our plans.  Sometimes your plans collide with the plan(s) of someone else.  That´s when the struggle starts!
Here´s a little secret:  it´s the importance of each plan which becomes the positively pushing motivator which is the trigger to get ahead…. do you remember?

If you don´t have a plan and you don´t need nor you want to decide in life about any direction,
2 things are going to happen to you:

1. mainly, others are going to rule your life
2. the only hope that is left for you, if things aren´t developing the way you hoped for, is waiting for the coincidence! The little piece of LUCK so many people wait for.  This little piece of luck which might appear one day to open the special door – but for many of us THIS rarely happens

To repeat what I listed above:
either other peoples decisions rule your life completely (1) or you sit and wait for the rescuing coincidence (2) in hope it brings THE plot into your life-plan (life movie).
The point is that many people hope for various plots in their life and maybe 1 plot finally clicks into your plan but it probably won´t bring that much change.  As a consequence, happiness is going to run away from your life.

…..do you remember?

Deciding means to turn into a certain direction and to leave other things behind, for good.

Deciding means leaving.
Deciding means arriving.

Deciding is timing.
Deciding is the essence of strategy.
Deciding is moving ahead, while getting older.

Looking back today, many decisions in my life still make me smile and some, sometimes made me cry in the past.  But there are lessons to learn and that´s the sunny side of our decision making.  So far, I´ve reached many things in life, many plans came true – mostly, because I had a plan, I talked about it and actively made a decision when it was time to, without hesitation.

There is another secret about deciding and that´s your communication!  If you have a plan you need to talk about it.  You need to set it free, even if you talk to yourself, loud.
Often it´s necessary that others get to hear your plan. Talking about it is not about a direct help nor about a potential risk of sabotage, no.  It´s important to set the vocal waves of your voice with its special frequency out in the world.

Set it free!
Only freedom boosts growth!

As a security, to not risk any sabotage you may say not too much about it, thou´ ….. however you feel about what´s right or wrong for your plan, everyone has a (gut) feeling and we all work with it.

Deciding is leaving.  Deciding is arriving.
Did you arrive?

BE A DECISION MAKER.  BECOME OUTSTANDING.

rita jaskolla – Leadership Architect

Deciding, as discussed in my last BLog-posts, has to do with freedom.  It´s an expression of your soul, your wishes, your will, your plan and your motivation.  If you decide for something new, you decide to let go of something else, often of something you don´t need (or want) anymore.

Deciding is the 1st step to personal freedom! It leaves a certain past behind because you can´t take it all with you.  We get rid of load.
On the other side, you link yourself to something new, something which supports your freedom.  If this step is “wrong”, it´ll chain you in the end – if it´s the right decision, it keeps you free and motivated!
Freedom allows you to move (!)

Which kind if freedom is meant?

There are 2 roads you can travel, when you are deep into the decision-making mode!

Turn LEFT (just as an example!):
–>> your educational path

This path puts you forward to meet certain people, certain companies and certain businesses with whom and with which you´ll deal for some years of your life.  Many of us like you, have to find out WHO you are until you find the right” area” or spot in life where you belong (best).
You know you´re living and working at the right place when you easily make friends and when people reach out to connect with you.  When socializing is fun and positive, you arrived.

Turn RIGHT (just as an example!):
–>> your cultural and role path  when moving into a new city or a foreign country

Apart from the education which you might start in a new country or city, you decide for a different culture first. If you´re open for news things, like I am, you go out into the world first.  This is a direct step of freedom!  You leave your childhood behind. During this self-experiment, you get to know yourself better and faster than you would have experienced yourself in your home town.  I bet, turning “RIGHT” helps playing your adult-role faster than you´d start while staying home. It´s a booster!

This is why making decisions helps you gain personal freedom!  You learn a lot during both life-experiences and people with extra life-experience faster grow into adulthood.  Decision-making speeds your life & your career!

BE A DECISION MAKER.  BE OUTSTANDING.

rita jaskolla – Leadership Architect

It is what it is!

As kids, the parents make decisions for the kids to allow growing-up safe.  As adults, people make decisions for their life and their education. As leaders, people make decisions for involved people like a team, to reach a goal and to get a result.

Decisions take responsibility!  Fact.

If you´re a typical gambler, always using new wind for your sail, then you´re not a decision maker.  You use other peoples wind for getting ahead in life.

True decision makers use this method like a motor to get ahead!  Positive is, the more experienced deciders become the faster they make decisions –> the more PS they add to their inner motor.

Did you ever notice how many decisions you have to take when you´re driving somewhere in a car, especially somewhere new? Decisions are a special strategy to reach a goal.

If you are one of those people who have trouble making decisions because you never sat down to work on the relevant criteria, then you´re stuck in life.  As a result, you might turn away from deciding and that´s too bad!  Today I want to explain the function of “setting criteria”!

A certain criteria is your checkpoint, it´s fix. It belongs to something.
It´s like standing concentrated on a certain ground. You need to stand somewhere with your feet to see the possible directions which are the alternatives. Otherwise you can´t turn to choose!

Remember Spider Man?  Spider Man moves by throwing elastic “glue” out of his wrists – to houses, to be able to swing along the streets with a certain speed.  When swinging he quickly decides where he needs the next checkpoint which functions like a lock, for a moment. Only from these checkpoints he can move to the next house and to the next and to the next. Without the checkpoints, he couldn´t decide at all how to move nor to move on!

If you decided for something wrong, something which doesn´t belong to you, well, you can stop it.  Deciding means to say several times “no” and one time, “yes”!  Standing somewhere fix means you said “stop” or “no”, maybe several times, before you knew the “yes” and the “yes” made you feel good! That´s why you stopped moving, simply to show WHERE you are.

Got it? Check out some of the video clips about setting criteria HERE and here and this one.

With your criteria you will easily figure out when to move and where to move, if at all or for a while.  Criteria are your checkpoints.  In business it´s mainly numbers, like quantities and amounts. In life it´s what you value most.  Value motivates us to move or to stand still.
You choose!

BE A DECISION MAKER.  BECOME OUTSTANDING.

rita jaskolla – Leadership Architect

People might critisize that you can´t explain a topic to an audience on a factual basis only.  People might argue that it´s the EMOTIONS which lead to attention and sympathy.  Right – but not always.

Still, I explain things on facts and ideas to you and I tend to stay away from emotions.

Why?  We all know that decision making by emotions is exactly what doesn´t help us at all — often, it ruins our plans.  Worst case, even our life.  Best example, is how the police works when it comes to decision making.  If the police has to make a decision, for example on arresting, there will be 3 active police officers as a team:  1 who interviews, 1 who watches the body language and keeps the ears open on true or false, and 1 who´s out of the emotional wave when it comes to arguments, and that´s the one who makes the decisions. This person is moving in the background of the storm.

Why decisions?  What is different when we make decisions?  Okay, here´s an easy comparison to look at the Black / White:

BLACK:
when we go with the flow in life and biz, we will keep our actions within the flow of installed (fitted) processes.  As a consequence, we rather move on, passively.  The process and the flow in the processes decide for us what we do, where we go, whom we meet.  The environment offers opportunities and we choose from what´s near and quite easy to get.  We stay with the flow.  It´s called comfort zone.

WHITE:
when we try to get away from the fitted processes which seem to lead our life and job opportunities, we have to cut us off the flow.  There is no process for change, nothing we can follow when we look for something else than what´s near. Therefore we cut us off with decision making, as a method.  It is the jump onto another flow, without using a bridge. The prepared decision is the bridge which leads us over the rough river.

Deciding is like jumping!  It´s a “no, thanks” to the old, and a “Yes!” for the new.

When we decide we should do it with a clear mind and without emotions.  Yes, emotions might trigger us to decide for something new, or to let go of something bad/negative/unattractive – often it´s an impulse for change!
When we choose the new direction we actually have to sit down and prepare for it on a factual basis – to reach the goal with a happy ending.  Fact!

Of course there is a great chance that when we´re triggered by emotions we will make good decisions, just to get way from something negative.  But that means we´re already prepared well for this jump!  Prepared means we know what we talk about, we did our homework about the topic or the problem and about what we can take or what we want to avoid for good.

Decisions shall lead into a better future, it´s a strategic jump onto a new path and it shall bring change. If this new change isn´t what we wanted, we make the next decision, we jump on, and we do it for so long until we belong into the new place.

If you ever were into sports at school or at university and today you remember what a highly disciplined training it took to prepare for the great jump – or what ever sport you did – do you think you prepared yourself on a emotional basis, mentally?
Hey, I doubt this –  training for sports means to avoid emotions on any level once you go for it.  Just for this moment or these few minutes, we need a clear mind and head.  Our emotions arise automatically afterwards, once we won or probably failed.

When we start making decisions we plan to win!  Right ?!?!?
RIGHT !?!?!
If you plan to jump away from the past, think of deciding for something new and fitting!  Get prepared –

BE A DECISION MAKER.  BE OUTSTANDING.

rita jaskolla – Leadership Architect

Something happens without an obvious cause and this new chance or even result supports a potential positive action of yours!  Suddenly, YOU  DID  IT.
Do you remember?

Do you remember that you decided to do something, simply by the motivation of a coincidence?  Do you remember that exactly THIS coincidence triggered you to take a decision which you avoided for a long time …..  because, nobody encouraged you to do it ?

I am sure you remember this ad hoc action you took!  Coincidence – the incident that causes a plot in your life.  Wasn´t it the thought of: “okay, NOW I´ll do it!” And then you made a decision and you took over some necessary action.

….. well, that´s part of decision making, folks!

What did you decide !? !?
Was it a buying decision?  Was it a vacation-destination decision you took?  Was it finally a new job career?  Did you separate from your partner?  Did you decide to marry, maybe again?  Did you talk to a stranger you always wanted to meet personally but you did shy away several times you met?  Did you adopt a child?  Did you start learning another language, because of this coincidence?  Let us know and leave a comment below –

It´s not always friends and family who lead you through life, sometimes it´s coincidence.  A coincident seems to allow us to do something, right?  It´s an agreement sent by the universe.  Fact is, that we need a strong motivation when it comes to a tough decision and that a strong trigger needs to kick our ass, to get up and DO IT!

That´s when the coincidence becomes an event with a strong meaning to your life.  Sometimes in life, a coincidence delivers a trustful feeling about, actually something very new. If you reflect such decisions of yours today, say:  do you notice now that Leadership was involved?  YES – exactly.

If you need someone who opens a door and this door-opener suddenly is a great coincidence, then we allow an unexpected form of Leadership to step into our life and change the situation. It´s no person, it´s nobody who wants or asks us to do something, no – it´s an event which becomes the Leader of the situation.  Isn´t it great how open we are for spontaneous decisions, when a coincident appears?

Well, yes – the other side of the story is that you cannot book such a coincidence.  You can´t order it from the waiter or waitress in the restaurant around the corner. And it´s not even “luck” – it´s something that appears suddenly to make us move – therefore be honest: coincidence is a silent leader.

Sometimes – just for us.

BE A DECISION MAKER.  BECOME OUTSTANDING.

rita jaskolla – Leadership Architect

You either work and live in a culture of indecision or of decision making.
Fact.

So, what if?  What if you struggle in an indecisive culture and now it´s time to make the relevant decision?  How do you move the team to the next level?  There´s one important method to use – the dialogue.

Dialogue is the basic unit of work in an organization.  The quality of the dialogue determines how people gather and process information, how they make decisions, and how they feel about one another and about the outcome of these decisions. Dialogue can lead to new ideas and speed as a competitive advantage<  
….the author Ram Charan points this out clearly.

To use a leading dialogue, each leader needs to work with openness and honesty.  This sets the tone for the entire organization.  It is the key to sharing information and to clarify disagreements.  Dialogue means to speak with another person, and not to give a speech.  The most effective dialogue is based on factual information, without any evaluation and without any emotional manipulation.  Talk facts!

Speak friendly and (tend to) explain some of your information rather, than throwing it on the table.  If people understand WHY things are going to be decided “this way” they will accept and support it more quickly.  If you come up with facts first and an explanation of the “why”, which is part of your competence, you already set the direction for the dialogue.

Make sure the team asks questions!  Encourage them to ask!  Have the answers at hand (!)

If complaints are first, brush them off the table with a polite “no complaints yet, thanks, that´s no start for a dialogue” and go ahead asking questions to get more information.  Remember to avoid any evaluation in your communication – maybe train it with someone to get rid of this habit !

To get back into balance when talking facts only, don´t forget to thank your counterparts for their questions, information or complaints – whatever comes up.  Kind words soften the rather “cold” communication style.

As a take-away let me recap for you:
to turn an indicisive culture into a rather decisive culture, use dialogue and implement honest facts, only.  Be open and avoid any evaluation in your dialogue and cut off, any evaluation from others about what you´ve said.  That´s Kindergarten – and it doesn´t lead the indecisive culture anywhere.

BE A DECISION MAKER.  BE OUTSTANDING.

rita jaskolla – Leadership Architect

Emotions cooperate with our brain.  Emotions lead us towards people or – away from them.  Emotions make us move or they make us freeze to pause.  Emotions also trigger us, to make certain decisions.

Today, I picked 3 emotions for you to explain a bit how “we function” and how we can control our very own decision machine. For example there are:  sadness, impatience and frustration.

SADNESS:
>> the sensation of pain, mostly caused by an incident or special event like sudden death of someone, an illness, when you miss someone badly or, after failure <<

IMPATIENCE:
>> the inability to wait and to go on living with unfulfilled wishes and desires. People might lose hope. Opposite: patience and hope go hand in hand <<

FRUSTRATION:
>> caused by the denial of a special wish:  a forced abstinence of something you wanted so badly <<

When we feel sad we tend to either fall into a depression – worst case – or we look for a quick way back to the sunny side of life.  A friend might support with a helping hand and if you´re strong you will manage it on your own.  To turn away from a sad situation or to stay with it for a while we need to make a decision!  Emotion is the trigger.

When we are impatient we want things to happen right away and not in one, five or 20 years!  We want things NOW.  But this is not how life functions.  The emotion of impatience triggers us to make  decisions.  Important then is to notice the direction of the decision result in which we are leading ourselves.  Is it favorable? Do you alternatively make the decision to learn how to become patient?

When we are frustrated, we undergo a strong emotion, an emotion caused by a strong wishful conception. It could be strong due to a long-term dream or due to the immediate hope to get a quick positive result in a certain life situation. The trigger of this emotion is connected to wishful thinking, which is maybe a bit too far away from the reality.

Emotions trigger our decision making.

Some ad hoc decisions can cause a negative explosion when we undergo a heavy frustration or it might cause a positive turn away from the wrong direction which didn´t lead you anywhere.  A frustration can easily occur when you move on “wrong land” where you don´t belong.
If you have too much of a choice of similar things then it´s sometimes hard to choose the thing which makes you happy. Impatience can occur when you experience indecision, indecision due to too much selection. Impatience can also be a heritage from your childhood, a childhood where probably things fell into your hands – managed by your parents – and later reality became a shocking wake up call.
Sadness then isn´t too far away!  It´s all connected.

All in all, various emotions trigger our inner decision making machine, more than we´re aware of.

HINT: 
look back and write down the events in your life when you made a strong decision which led to change in your life.

FIGURE OUT:
which emotion often was the trigger?

If you figure this out you get to know your own decision-motor.  A quick look inside of you helps understanding your emotional triggers – those triggers, which are the leader of your decisions.  Are they a good leader? Or do you have to adjust it a little?

BE A DECISION MAKER.  BECOME OUTSTANDING.

rita jaskolla – Leadership Architect

QUESTION:  do you remember when you´ve been really HAPPY lately?

And no, I don´t mean the nice sitution when you received a gift or won the lottery (!) – no, I mean the kind of happiness you´ve experienced after reaching a goal or after moving a mountain!  This happiness relaxes you and invites you to simply lean back and put your feet on the table. Where are your feet right now?

So, do you remember?  It´s the decisions in your life, the choices you make, which bring happiness to your life! Do you agree?  Every choice asks us for a compromise or a loss in exchange for something else. If you decided well, then you are prepared of the losses and compromises you soon meet.  Welcome those changes!

They´re part of your thought through decision.  They´re also called “the price we pay” for a decision result.  Here´s the secret:
if the gain is higher than the little losses, you´re a winner and that brings happiness to your life!

If you have to remember when you´ve been really happy in the past, then think about your decisions! What were they about? Small gains?
Small goals but many and, reachable?  Yes, that makes us all happy. If you´re involved in reaching a huge goal, add small goals to it which keeps the happiness and the motivation (!) alive.

If you often get frustrated in life, then you probably frustrate yourselves. Eitherway something was absolutely unreachble or simply a really bad choice.

This is why I write about decision making:  your choice is up to you!  BTW, decision making avoids blaming others which keeps you focused on the path to reach the next goal. That´s part of reaching personal happiness, your happiness!

Are you happy?

BE A DECISION MAKER.  BE OUTSTANDING.

rita jaskolla – Leadership Architect

You decide.
You have to make decisions.
You walk a certain path with ups and downs in life.

But, if you look back today, it´s not the event of making your decisions that kept you so busy reaching  certain goals or failing some of them, no!  What REALLY kept you busy, sweating, rolling back and forth at night, sometimes lacking important concentration …. is living with the consequences.

The decisions you took is one thing, but adding their consequences and the necessary discipline to your daily life is another thing!  That´s what we call “walk the talk” or as I´d say: “walk the decision!” I bet
you often heard some people say: “never give up, common don´t quit!”

Many people turn to the motivational side of life at this point but, I´d turn to the decision you´ve made which is always connected to a goal.  If this goal is too far away from your current position in life or if it´s too big for the moment, you might think about quitting.  You might even talk about quitting.  It´s no motivational thing which is affecting you then, it´s a thing caused by making a tough decision.

Truly, you don´t have to make too many decisions in life but if you decide for something, you should go for the goal at the end of tunnel.  If you keep walking you´ll reach – everything, just everything you dream of!  Promised –

All you need is a well prepared and well thought-through decision process and then:  GO!

BE A DECISION MAKER.  BECOME OUTSTANDING.

rita jaskolla – Leadership Architect

Decision Making is on the active side of life and it offers advantages!

People who don´t tend to decide, for whatever reason, are in the position to be pushed around.  They act more passive than (pro-)active.  Is that you?
Do you tend to wait until life or someone is asking OR even pushing you to do something differently?  Is change kicking you more often?  Watch out, this kills motivation and it will frustrate you long-termly.

The fastes way out is not starting a fight to stop this pushing and kicking, no – the best way out is to start making decisions. Slowly…. so don´t run away, better stop to look at this pushing challenge.

What is it that pushes you?  It´s not about who is pushing you… check:  WHAT is it?
Which disturbing facts are right in front of you?

The take-away today is to take the advantages in life which function best when you make informed decisions. It´s better to go into a certain direction on your own than being pushed around all day to move somewhere else.

Activity is the key to decision making!

Be the first to do it – be informed, learn what´s new or missing here, and then enjoy no more pushing situations in life – LIFE is not about decision making, it´s about our informed activities.

BE A DECISION MAKER.  BE OUTSTANDING.

rita jaskolla – Leadership Architect

If you reflect on your life today, no matter how young or old you are today, do you agree that the decisions you made in the past today feel like, you´ve moved 1 lousy inch or 1 lousy cm forward?  Do you nod that there are only a few decisions that moved you 1 mile forward?

I feel the same today and will write about it:

The good news is that it´s your decisions which move you in life because just sitting on a bench or couch, doesn´t change the present nor the precious future of our life.

No matter if it´s just a few decisions or a lot which you transacted, feeling alive comes from decision making.
If you know my hobbies and interests you might have noticed that I am a big fan of the American Block busters, mainly written and filmed in Hollywood.

Action movies or drama, no matter which genre, every great movie with an (emotional) impact on you is caused by the decisions.  A strategy for example, is made by a row of fitting decisions.

While it all looks easy in the movies, which are first written (script) and then transposed by a director with the hired actors, in life it all takes much longer. Movies sell the fitting row of decisions perfectly!
They lead to the desirable result and goal within 1.5 hrs.

Well in life it´s never that easy nor that fast!

Doesn´t it feel like 1 decision moves you 1 inch forward and then you´re stuck again for 1-3 years? People like us try and try and try…. to move forward in life and in the end, with a couple of great decisions and lots of effort – we make it!

The 1.5 hrs. a movie offers from the start until reaching a goal, with many decisions, takes much longer in life but this is how it works! That´s the secret of our lives.

Life isn´t a compensated, written story. It´s unwritten and stretched over many years. Why?
I´d say: people receive their time required – in years – to simply write their life stories.

If you try to move ahead with great decision making, keep 1 thing in mind:
if you feel like moving in circles make sure it´s becoming a coil or helix!  You do that by changing the goals or adjusting the trip towards the goal a little differently than before. Difference creates space. Difference is the key to a break-through from a circle.

Let me list a few great movies for you to (re-)watch which include oversized decision making:

• Interstellar
• Elysium
• Jurassic World
• Harry Potter
• Inception
• Oblivion
• The Wolf of Wallstreet
• Runner Runner
• The Plan (!)
• Passengers (!)

Honestly?
It´s the Block buster movies I watched in life which highly motivated me to make bold decisions and to never stop with this leading strategy. It moved me –

What or who made you go for bold decision making in your life?  Post it below on this page and let us know – thanks!

BE A DECISION MAKER.  BECOME OUTSTANDING.

rita jaskolla – Leadership Architect