Happy {Half} Hour! The power in making decisions

Hello, hello, it's 5 o'clock. Happy half hour. I am running on CP time today. It is about 15 minutes behind 5 o'clock, a little late. I was trying a new setup, so for those of you who have been watching these for a couple of weeks, I've been trying to do different angles and different positions, and last week I was sitting outside and I lost my Wi-Fi connection, so sitting outside is probably not a good idea. However, it is a beautifully fabulous day in Philadelphia, so let's get started. I got my Spangrift today, sparkling lime. As I pour, I am Jennifer Dent-Brown. I am a life coach and I help women learn to stop dieting forever. So if you know, or if you don't know, your weight is just a manifestation of all the things that are off-kilter in your life. So what I do as a holistic health coach is I start to dissect all those little things that are going on in your life that are causing you to eat, overeat, eat emotionally, Binge eat, whatever your thing is, right? So we take a look at all of those different areas, and when we can balance and get all of those areas straight, then the results will show up in weight loss, and that is what we want, right? Sustainable, lifelong weight loss. All right, so cheers, let's get started. It's hot outside, y'all. I got my I am a health coach shirt on today. All right, so today we're going to talk about decision making, and this is a topic that is ongoing in the coaching community, right? How to make quick decisions and the power of making quicker decisions and faster decisions. And for me, this is an area where making a fast decision did not come easily, right? Because I like to weigh pros and cons of everything. I mean, I could literally sit on Amazon and compare 18 of the same product. Case in point, I just ordered a backpack, a new backpack. So lots of times I have to carry 2 laptops with me. And so I wanted a stylish but functional laptop that was big enough to hold all of my stuff. And then when I travel, I always take my huge noise-canceling earphones. And so I needed a backpack that was big enough to put all that stuff in. Hey, Kim. So I think I looked for a backpack for 2 weeks. Just searching and search. Actually, no, it's probably longer than that. Searching and looking and like afraid to purchase one because then I might see one that, that was better or cost less. So finally I was like, this is ridiculous. It got so bad I would leave the site up in my web browser so I could come back and look at it again the next day, right? Terrible, right? Couldn't make a decision. So finally I was like, this is ridiculous, I need to practice what I preach, make a decision and go with it and commit to it and just stick with it and like quit wasting all this time looking at all these different sites. I looked at Amazon, I looked at eBags, I looked at Lululemon, I looked at company called Nordstrom. Of course, when I started searching for bags on the internet, Facebook, Instagram, all of a sudden I'm getting all these ads about laptop bags. So I finally made a decision and my new backpack arrived today. So I haven't opened it yet, but I just wanted to give you guys that example that decision-making is a thing, right? Decision-making can be a struggle for some of us, and again, this is an area that I really needed to work on. I also see this a lot in my clients having a hard time making a decision. I see this a ton with the women that I talked to on strategy calls who are like, yes, yes, yes, I need coaching. I'm tired of carrying around this extra weight. Please help me. I know you can help me. I want to join your program. I want to do the one-on-one coaching. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. But when it comes to make a decision, a final decision, as in pay for it, it's like, whoo, hesitation, right? And so When we don't— when we delay making a decision, all that does is just really put us in a place of analysis paralysis, confusion, and it just takes up a whole lot of brain energy, right? Yes, Kim, it is a struggle. So this is something that I have been consciously working on, how to make a quicker decision. Lots of us have decisions and things that we're trying to figure out. Maybe if you'd like to share, you can go ahead and type in the comment section, what are you trying to make a decision with? Some of us are making huge decisions like relocating to a different city or getting out of a relationship that we've been in for a very long time, or deciding like, should we go back to school? Should we quit our job? Should we start a new business? That's, that's what I hear a lot, right? So where are we trying to make decisions? What I want to challenge you to do this weekend is to begin to make small decisions, but make them quickly and then commit to them. Because when you can begin to make the smaller decisions quickly, then you can make the bigger decisions quickly. Jeff Bezos, the Bezos, the CEO of Amazon, like freaking multi-billionaire. Um, he says that he makes a decision when he has 40% of the information that he needs to make the decision. 40%, not even 50%, right? So if I had taken his advice when I was looking for my backpack, I would have ordered a backpack like 3 weeks ago. 40%. All I need to know is that it holds 2 laptops. I could probably fit my, my headphones in there, and I should have just hit buy and been done with it. Right. So he says his decision-making process, he goes with his gut, is very much intuition-led. He doesn't spend a lot of time in analysis paralysis. And when he feels 40% confident about going one way or the other, he makes a decision. And then he commits to it, right? So that is huge. I just want you to keep that in mind. 40%. Now, he is like one of the world's richest men, so if he can make a decision at 40%, surely you can make a good decision with 40% of the information that you need to make the decision, right? So he must be doing something right. So here's a quote that I I found today that actually showed up on Momentum. Momentum Dash is a Chrome extension, so every day it has a beautiful, huge photographic picture of somewhere in the world that someone has taken, an inspirational quote. Y'all know I love my quotes, and it's even customized to me, so there's like a little message to me. And so today was like, you can do it, Jennifer. Yes, I can do it. But at the bottom, today's quote was by someone named Catherine Cook. I did a little research. I think she's a tech founder of a company, myyearbook.com, a multimillionaire. She says, if you're not making mistakes, then you're not making decisions, right? So a lot of times people don't want to make a decision because we're afraid of making a mistake. Like, oh my gosh, If I make the wrong decision, what's going to happen to me? Right? I want you to stop spending so much time in analysis paralysis, so much time trying to weigh the pros and cons of everything, and just see what it feels like to just make a decision and go. Right? How about that? What— how would your life change if you were able to do that? Now, this weekend, I want you to think about it as it pertains to food. So another way, another way that I was so not making quick decisions when I was in the process of losing the weight, I remember like going to restaurants and looking at the menu and taking forever to make a decision about what to order. All right, so it's all of these choices you have to eat. Usually when you go out, you kind of know what you have a taste for, but what happens is you start looking at everything else and then you start worrying about like, well, if I eat this, then what's going to happen? But if I choose that, then what is going to happen? Right? So do I order the salad and, you know, don't consume a lot of calories, or do I order the burger and the fries, or the seafood pasta, or the lasagna? Right? Do I order a glass of red wine because that's supposed to be better for your heart, or do I order this fun little cocktail over here because because that looks like something that's fun and fabulous and fruity, right? Maybe that has more sugar in it. Do I order an appetizer or am I going to order a dessert? But if I order the appetizer and the dessert, what's going to happen tomorrow, right? So all of this mind drama is going on as you're sitting there looking at the menu, and you're wasting time. You're wasting precious time that you could be spend talking and engaging and being present with the people that you're out to eat with, right? Because that is a point of social eating, is the socializing, not just the eating, the socializing. And so many times we get so caught up in the food, we lose, we lose sight of human connection, right? So the next time you're going out to dinner, if you have plans this weekend to eat out socially, how about focusing on the people that you're out with? How about focusing on their conversation and being present with them? Not looking at your phone, not spending 20 minutes looking at the menu, right? Not gobbling down your food as soon as it's placed down on the table. How about you pay attention and be present? How was your week? Is there anything I can do for you? What are your plans for the summer, right? Just have a normal conversation and engage. With the people that you're out with, the food is secondary. You should get to a point where you can go out to dinner and not even like want to eat if you're not physically hungry, but you're just there to hang out and to be there with your family, your friend, whomever, coworker, date, whoever it is, right? Food is secondary. Okay, so The quickest way to get out of analysis paralysis is one, to make a decision that you're going to make a decision. Like, what? Yeah, go ahead. Um, Kim, I see those on your Instagram page. They are lovely. I'm not sure what that means. I'm not sure what you were commenting on. I missed it. Um, but thank you. Thank you for following me on Instagram. Um, What I want you to learn how to do is make a decision quickly, right? And make the decision to say, okay, I want to learn how to decide to make a decision quickly, right? So you've got to decide and then you've got to commit. But start with something small. So it could be just challenging yourself next time you go out to eat to look at the menu, scan, scan, close it up. Right, make a decision. Oh, the motivation screen. Yes, from, um, um, yeah, I just said it. Thanks, Kim. Momentum Dash. Yeah, sometimes I share pictures of the screen on my Instagram stories or Facebook stories. Okay, so I need you all to think about where in your life can you make a quick decision. And it's not just about making a quick decision, right? You can make a quick decision and then still flip-flop, and that's still a waste of time and a waste of energy. I want you to make a quick decision and then commit to the decision. So I want you to think, where in your life right now can you make a quick decision around something? I like to start my clients off with food because that is the easiest thing, right? Every week we write down what we're going to be eating for the coming week, right? I'm actually— I'm so excited. I'm creating a new planner for my clients, a 90-day planner. And part of the planner is one of the pages, we're going to have a meal plan for the week. So we're going to write down exactly what our meals are, breakfast, lunch, and dinner. And then each day, my clients are going to write down what meals they're going to eat for that upcoming day, and then they're going to commit to it, right? So that activity alone, in doing that every day, will help them exercise that decision muscle, because every day they've got to make the decision like, oh yeah, I said I was going to eat a salad today for lunch. Is that what I'm going to do? Yes or no? Oh yeah, I said I was going to eat salmon and grilled veggies for dinner tonight. Is that what I'm going to do? Yes or no? And writing down and thinking through your meals for the day ahead of time takes all of that mind drama out the window, right? So when your coworkers are like, yeah, girl, let's go to lunch. And you're like, where do you want to eat? I don't know. Where do you want to eat? What do you have a taste for? I don't know. What do you have a taste for? Like, I'm good for whatever. What do you want to do? Right? So you spend 20 minutes trying to figure out where you're going to go for lunch. But if you already have your lunch planned out and you know what you're going to eat, you can say, oh no, you know what? No thank you. I've got my lunch here. I already know what I'm going to eat. I'll catch up with you guys later. Done. Right? Decision made. So getting super, super consistent with making quick decisions can be very, very beneficial. So this weekend, because today is Friday, if you're watching the replay, start whenever, start tomorrow, start tonight, whenever you're watching and think about your next meal. Think ahead of time, what are you going to eat? And then write it down and stick with it. Right? So I talked about writing down your meals for the weekend. I think in my very first livestream when I started doing happy half hours and like how to plan for the weekend. Very, very simple. Take 10 minutes, write down what you're going to eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner for Saturday, and the same for Sunday. And you stick with it. No floundering, no analysis paralysis, no standing in front of the refrigerator like, hmm, what am I going to eat today? Right? Very, very simple, but it is a habit that you need to Master that will help you get to your goal weight. Okay, questions, go ahead and type them in. Even if you're watching the replay, go ahead and type them in. I will come back and answer them. This is a short happy half hour. It's like a happy 15 minutes because I came on 15 minutes late today. I didn't even finish my Spin Drift. But I actually appreciate a quick live, live stream. Tell me what the problem is, tell me the solution, get to the point and get out. All done. All right, if you have any questions, you know how to reach me. You can send me a message on Facebook, you can follow me on Instagram @jenniferdent @melaniedbrown. Um, or you can just send me a message here. I am more than happy to talk to you. All right, I want you to have a fabulous weekend. I've got lots of fun stuff planned this weekend. Follow me on Instagram stories or Facebook story and you might see what I'm up to this weekend. All right, see you guys later. Bye!