The three body parts to check before making an important choice

Do you consider yourself to be good at making decisions?

Are there some choices you’ve made that turned out to be wrong?

Whether you have few regrets, or if you’d like more than your fair share of do-overs, knowing the three parts of your body to consult before making important decisions will help you create a better future and, ultimately, improve your life.

I’m sharing an easy three-part decision-making framework - covering your head, your gut and your heart - in episode 90 of CRE Success: The Podcast.

By the way, a great decision you definitely won’t regret* is joining CRE Success: Membership.

We only open a couple of times a year, so we can remain focused on helping our more than 70 (as at June 2022) members to save time, earn more and be appreciated for what they do.

Click here and register your interest to make sure you don’t miss the invite to join us during our next intake.

(* you definitely won’t regret it because we offer a 30-day money-back guarantee!!)

Episode transcript:

Decisions, decisions, decisions.

That's three of the same word.

And why did I say the same word three times?

Well, in today's show, we're talking about decisions.

And I'm going to give you three ways that you can make better choices, or at least a framework of understanding why you make the choices you do.

So, one decision I want you to make right now is don't go anywhere.

Hello, and welcome to episode 90 of the show with CRE Success: The Podcast. My name is Darren Krakowiak.

And if you work in commercial real estate, well, we're here to help you save time, earn more and be a top performer in your market.

Always love the fact that you do choose to spend this time with us.

And if you do, watch the show on YouTube, hit that subscribe button so you get informed every single time a new episode comes out. 

And if you're listening to us on your favorite podcast player, and you're not actually subscribed to the podcast, go ahead and hit that subscribe button so you get every single episode that we do bring out.

I don't want you to miss any of the great content that we've got for you that we produce, of course, for free.

And remember, you can download our back catalogue for free anytime you like. So, it's always there for you from CRE Success.

So today, we're talking about decisions, and we make so many decisions every single day.

In fact, 1000s and 1000s of decisions get made every day. And I think most of the time we make these decisions without a lot of thought we just sort of do them without even thinking about them.

And they may without much consideration, but then there are times when we know that we can't just not consider a decision because it's an important decision. It's a big decision. It's consequential.

And when we're faced with those kinds of choices, I think it's important to understand that there are three different, if you like parts of your body that you can look to, to help you make the right decision.

And what I want to do is just bring those three areas to your attention.

If you're interested in exploring this framework more, there's different sort of theories on it online.

I actually was planning this episode and I kind of thought about these three. And then I saw there's actually theory on this kind of three parts of your body that you can use to make decisions.

But I'm not really getting into the theory of it, I just want to talk to you a little bit about understanding the way that each of those three parts works.

And then what you can do to help you make better decisions based on knowing those three parts, and also understanding the decisions of others.

So, the three parts of your body are your gut, and then there's your head, and then there's your heart.

With your gut, this is all about does it feel, right?

Thinking about your intuition, or your instinct. Does it feel like you're making the right decision in that kind of visceral way? That's your gut, in terms of decision making.

And then there's your head. And that's all about, does it make sense? Does it feel logical? When you think about it, it seemed like the right thing to do.

And with your heart, this is all about, does it light you up? Is this something that is aligned with your passion, with something that you can feel comfortable with as being the right choice.

And when we think about the future, and how those three different areas, look at decisions.

I think your gut really wants to know that the decision is aligned with your expectations for the future in terms of what you believe is going to happen and what is going to be comfortable for you.

And then when it comes to your head, this is all about your plans for the future.

So does this decision, if you make it align with the way that you see the future, sort of panning out. 

And then with your heart, this is all about your dreams for the future. And does making the decision align with that?

Now understanding your gut, your head and your heart, I think matters in terms of how you make decisions. But it's also relevant in terms of the way that other people make decisions, and how their decisions impact you. 

And I think knowing what those decision parameters are, cannot help you control those decisions, because we don't control those, but we can certainly influence them by understanding these parameters when it comes to this user made by prospective clients, right? 

They can decide whether they're going to award us work or not.

And sometimes they may really like you but their gut and their head may be telling them something else.

Or it could be clients that you're already working with. And decisions that they're making which help you, for example, advance a deal and get it done and get to that point where you can invoice with the transaction. 

Then there's our employer. And whether it's our boss or our employer as an entity more in that kind of general terms, they make decisions which impact us.

And there are things that we could do to make it more likely that the decisions that are being made on our behalf or decisions that are going to impact us are more likely to go our way.

And then, of course, in negotiation. And I was involved in a negotiation for an investment that I was wrapping up recently.

And I really tried to have a think about, well, what is this other person?

What is their approach in terms of the outcome that they want to get?

And how can I make sure that it's the right decision for them in terms of thinking what is right, in terms of what they want to do, but also something that they will feel comfortable with their head, their gut and their heart.

And a little side note on this is that if you want to think more about your clients, and the decisions that they make, or your prospective clients in terms of how they decide to award work, have a listen to episode 77 of the show.

Because we talk about in that episode, which is called 'Nothing else matters', why it is the clients decide to award work, when we're involved in a competitive process. 

There are four main criteria. And we talk about how that criteria can be influenced by us.

And I think if you understand what they're deciding on and you understand the way that decisions are made, which we're talking about today, then you're going to be in a much better position to get decisions which favor you.

But today, I want to focus on decisions really, that you're making.

And having to think about different decisions that you do need to make as a commercial real estate professional, that's what we're talking about.

So, thinking about new roles that can come up. Sometimes there's opportunities to whether it's changed positions, to take on more responsibility, to change organizations.

We didn't really understand if we feel ready to take on the new challenge. If we want that new responsibility and how that sits with us.

Sometimes when it comes to working with a client, it can just not feel right, even though we can.

In our head think well, I'm going to be financially better off for making this deal and to continuing to work with the client. But it might not really feel very good in our heart.

And our gut might be telling us that it's not the way that we should continue going.

And sometimes you do need to let go of certain clients so you can let in better ones.

And then there's the decisions that we make in terms of who we decide to work with in terms of the other people that we relate with on a day-to-day basis.

And if you're not happy with the people around you, one thing, I think would be a good takeaway, apart from understanding those three different areas of your body, where decisions are made, is understanding that if you don't make a decision, that is still a decision, right?

So, if you're unhappy in your current role, if you don't enjoy working with a certain client, continuing to work with them is a decision.

And sometimes I feel like people kind of say that they're helpless, and that "I'm in this situation, and there's nothing I can do about it."

Well, there is something you can do about it. You can change your circumstances by changing your environment and getting out of that situation.

And I think, you know, remembering that not doing anything, settling with the status quo is still a decision.

And once we know that that's a decision. I think that helps you live a life that you're more in control of.

Because if you decide to stay, then that's a decision you've made.

And that's I think, where personal responsibility comes in.

That's where self-determination comes into play.

So, there's your gut, there's your head, there's your heart.

And usually, we're looking for two out of three. For two out of three to be aligned, and we feel we can move forward.

Now, usually, I would say, "we want to have three out of three," right?

But sometimes two out of three is good. But if our head and our heart disagree, that's where we can go to the gut.

And the gut is kind of like the arbiter. If the guts aligned, then we go with that.

If our head and our gut agree, we kind of feel like we're making a smart choice even though our heart might not be in it.

And when our heart and our gut agree, that's not a no brainer. It was a no brainer, even though the heads not involved is when all three are alone.

That when your heart and your gut agree that's when your kind of throwing caution to the wind, you're thinking, "well, it doesn't seem like a smart choice, but it seems like the right one. It's the one that I'm most comfortable with."

But when the head and the heart agree, but something in your gut is telling you “No", that's when I think you've got a dilemma. 

So sometimes two out of three doesn't work. Because if your guts telling you “No", then I think that is a sign that we need to think more about it or explore our feelings more, to just get a little bit more comfortable with moving forward.

To get our gut aligned one way or the other, or to get the head or the heart decision above one or the other. And then to get your gut on board.

Sometimes, when that happens, when your gut isn't quite sure, but your head and your heart agree, there's something in your subconscious telling you that there's more decision-making time that needs to be done before you can move forward with confidence. 

So, one decision that I'm actually going to be asking you to make very soon is in relation to CRE Success: Membership.

Now in the membership, we help commercial real estate professionals go from being overworked, underpaid, and feeling unappreciated, to saving time earning more, and working with people who value what they do. 

So many of our members have changed jobs and improved their environment by having the confidence to understand their own worth and to take on positions that they didn't feel that they were ready for before.

Other members have really come through in strides and gotten through to, I think, three or four members that have cut through to that $1 million GCI (Gross Commission Income) since the membership is open.

And I'm really proud of those members.

If being part of the community like this might help you go to cresuccess.co/membership

We're going to be opening up the membership very soon. And I will have a special offer for you to join us before the end of the financial year.

If you're in Australia, the financial year is the 30th of June. And that's when you've got to get all your expenses in.

So, if you want to rack up one more expense before the end of financial year, then go to cresuccess.co/membership

Enter your details. What will happen is is that you'll be on the list to receive details of that special offer before anyone else receives it.

I'll even send you a free PDF guide on 10 texts that you can send to commercial real estate.

It's just a little guide that will help you elevate relationships and accelerate deal flow.

The main thing though, is that you'll be on the list to join this membership.

And, look, I know it's a decision and I want you to feel comfortable with that decision in your heart, in your gut and in your head.

And one way I'm going to be ating that decision is next week I'm going to be doing a special episode.

Given I'm the leader of the membership, I think you want to be comfortable with me and I know you're listening to it.

So, you've probably got some idea about who I am. But I don't talk that much about really who I am as a person.

And next week I'm going to be sharing an interview that I did on someone else's podcast on the topic of success.

And I hope the stories that I share about struggles that I've faced as a commercial real estate professional and a little bit in life in general will help you decide if I'm the type of person who you would like to spend more time with and also get help from in your commercial real estate career.

I want to say thank you so much for listening to today's episode and I will speak to you soon.