October 2007

Welcome Announcements Tools For the Journey Recommended Reading WellnessCoach Blog

Quote of the Month

"In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing."

Theodore Roosevelt

Seven Sacred Attitudes

Begin your personal path to success.

Reach new heights of personal and professional discovery and achievement with renowned life coach and author Erica Ross-Krieger.

Hello and Welcome!

Welcome to autumn 2007 issue of Success...it's in your nature® ezine.

As I sorted through notes, quotes and the many topics I wanted to write about this month, I just couldn’t decide which to choose. Each thing I considered looked better than the next. Then I noticed what I was doing to myself. I could feel my forehead frowning, my shoulders tightening and my breath getting shallow as I went back and forth on the fence of indecision. I took a deep breath and suddenly it dawned on me...I knew exactly which topic to choose! I not only had plenty of material on the subject, but a first-hand in-the-moment experience I could talk about. Granted, the choice I was facing was not terribly important in the scheme of things, but this month’s topic was born right on the spot: "Time to Get off the Fence: 7 Tips to Simplify Decision-Making" You can read the feature article in Tools for the Journey .

Speaking of decisions...have you been spinning your wheels trying to make a decision in your own life? Thinking about several new creative projects or business ventures and stuck in indecision? I've set up my Coaching Gym just for times like these. Come on by and "drop in" for a brief telephone coaching session on Thursdays. Read the Announcements section to learn how to register.

While scoping out the Announcements, be sure to read about a great pre-holiday offer on my book, Seven Sacred Attitudes: Buy 1, Get 1 Free! You'llalso see my announcement about new projects underway.

One of the decisions I've made recently has turned out better than I expected. My new blog, WellnessCoach.com, is moving right along in its Google-ranking and bringing lots of new entrepreneurs into our community. Yay! If you haven’t been over to check it out yet, do stop by for a blog visit soon. You can even sign up to have the new posts mailed right to your email in-box so you don’t have to wonder when I’ve posted another Wellness Tip.

For your continued reading and learning, browse through the Recommended Reading and Listening List I’ve assembled this month. While there, you can take advantage of my 2 for 1 special –- now through December 10th, buy 1 copy of Seven Sacred Attitudes® and get one free -- in plenty of time for holiday gift giving. The other powerful books and audio CD on the list go hand in hand with the feature article and are some of my personal favorites.

Enjoy!

To Your Wellth,

Announcements

Coaching Gym Thursdays

Need to get off a fence of indecision? Been thinking about hiring a coach but not sure what to expect? Don’t have time for a full 4-month coaching program right now but still want to move forward with your wellness strategy or new business project?

Coaching Gym sessions are 30-minutes telephone coaching sessions designed to help you keep your success and inner-wellness muscles toned and conditioned. These brief yet powerful, focused coaching sessions meet the needs of those with busy schedules and a strong desire to break through a stuck place in their business or personal lives. Coaching Gym sessions take place on Thursdays, from 7am-7pm pacific time .

I designed the Coaching Gym for:

First-time clients who want to experience the power of coaching relationship. (Limit to one-time visit)
Graduates of my 4-month Success...it's in your nature® or Wellness...it's in your nature® programs who want to keep their coaching muscles toned up and their progress on track. (Purchase 3 sessions at a time.)

Coaching Gym Fees: $195 per session*

>> Learn more by clicking here

*New clients, limit of 1 session. Graduates, purchase 3 sessions at a time, to be used within 1 year.

2-FOR-1 Book Special!!

Right in time for the holidays! Buy 1 copy of Seven Sacred Attitudes® and receive a 2nd copy for FREE! This offer is just for my ezine readers and not offered to the general public. Just click here and send me an email telling me how many copies you would like to order. I’ll be in touch, take your order directly and get you a FREE copy of the book for each copy you purchase, up to 10 copies. This offer is good now through December 10, 2007.

New Projects Underway!*

Within the next few months you will see the new fruits of our recent labor here at New Attitudes. We will release:

- Seven Sacred Attitudes Workbook® in an e-book format
- Success...it’s in your nature® Article Collection – your favorite ezine articles
- Wellness in Action - Best of the WellnessCoach.com blog (MP3 download)

*We will send a special email announcement when these products are available!

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Tools For the Journey

Time to Get off the Fence: 7 Tips to Simplify Decision-Making

by Erica Ross-Krieger, M.A., N.E.

We’ve all been there. We’ll all be back. We’re human, and sitting on the fence a bit too long, pondering a decision, comes with the territory. I’m not referring to the fence sitting that is necessary when we’re facing major life decisions. I’m referring to those less critical, should-I-go-to this-event-or-not, or do-I-hire-this-person-or-not type of decisions -- the kind of a decision that we can get stuck agonizing over, yet later might look back and chuckle at the energy we spent while ambivalent.

In my view, I think it all comes down to that final moment when we have to trust ourselves and just choose. We can review, analyze and get opinions from others all day long, but the end result is the same: we need to listen to our Inner Wisdom and just decide. To help you do so, I’ve put together a list of my favorite decision-making tips.

I've used each of the following tips and tools myself and select from among them depending upon the nature of the decision I’m making. Depending upon the importance, type and immediacy of the decision you face at the moment, some of these tips and tools will be more useful and applicable to you than others. Just don't get stuck trying to decide which tool to use!

7 Tips to Simplify Decision-Making

1. Stop...Breathe...Notice...Choose
I first introduced this 4-step practice to you in my book, Seven Sacred Attitudes , and there's a brief example of how I used it myself this week in the Welcome letter above. I find that using the process when I'm stuck in indecision can be quite valuable. To do so, simply Stop action the next time you are struggling to make a choice. Just freeze in one spot. Now take a deep breath and pay close attention to what you are doing to yourself while you are struggling. Notice the details of your breath, shoulders, position of your body and any tension in your muscles. Notice the prison of indecision you have created in your mind – are you telling yourself that the choice of a movie or book is critical? Are you stressing yourself out wondering whether you should attend a social event or not? Just notice. Then take another deep breath and, using your intuition, simply Choose .

Notes: This technique is useful when you have already analyzed the heck out of a situation or when the stakes are not too high to risk an unanalyzed choice.

2. Ask your Board of Directors what they would do
Don’t worry if you don't have an actual Board of Directors. This technique involves some active imagination and is, as those of you who are my clients will testify, often better accessed while in the shower. When you have a few minutes of solitude, close your eyes and bring to mind a large oak table in a beautiful meeting room – perhaps a room with large windows overlooking a forest and creek. Now picture your ideal Board of Directors sitting around the table -- all of them present to help you in your decision-making process. The members can be anyone you choose, presently living or not, and real or animated. You can vary who you "invite" to sit on your Board, depending upon the type of decision you're making. [I've been known to "invite": Walt Disney, if I'm facing a creative decision; Donald Trump, if I'm making a real estate decision; Loral Langemeier, if I'm making an investment decision; an entire football team (okay, the Dallas Cowboys) and their coach if I’m making a hiring decision and want good teamwork input; and even Martha Stewart, if I'm making a decorating decision.] Go ahead and put anybody around that imaginary table that your big heart desires. Now put the decision in question before your Board. I even dare you to talk aloud while doing this. Take on the voice of any and all of your Board Members as they each tell you what they would do. When you have had enough input, thank them all and send them on their way. Emerge from the "session" (or shower) with a fresh perspective on the decision.

Notes: This is one of my favorite tools. It can be used in either the beginning or final phases of making decisions as important as whether or not to hire a specific employee, or which property to sell, or as simple as which color to paint your office.

3. Act "as if" for an hour or a day
This tool also requires some imagination. If you are deciding between two options (i.e. deciding which of two new pieces of office equipment to purchase) or two actions to take (i.e. deciding whether to attend a week-long seminar or stay home and work on that new book), this technique will be helpful in the decision between the two options you're considering. Depending upon how much time you have available, and also depending upon how big of a choice this is, set aside an appropriate time period (1 hour, 1 day, 1 week). For that entire period, act "as if" you have decided on Option 1. Get into it. Absolutely pretend that you have decided on this option, are excited about the choice, and get on with the rest of that period "as if" you'd really made the choice. Put aside any consideration for the other option. Don’t even think about it. Talk "as if" you'd made the choice for Option 1, try it out by telling someone else you made the choice, and feel the freedom of having made a decision. Great job. Now, when the hour, day or week ends, go ahead and set another time period aside, identical in duration. You guessed it – you'll now act "as if" you've made the choice for Option 2. The same guidelines apply. Talk, walk, and act “as if” you've opted for Option 2. When the entire experiment is over, you will have a much better idea of which Option is the right one for you (and I’ll bet you’ll know even before you’re finished acting "as if" for the entire period!)

4. Review the "Use Inner Wisdom" section of Sacred Attitudes®
When all is said and done and you’ve evaluated options, weighed criteria, gotten input from experts and gathered information from the internet, the buck stops with you. One way or another, whether for a two-second moment or a two-hour meditation, you will turn to your Inner Wisdom to decide, no matter what the choice involves. If you want to actively sharpen your Inner Wisdom skills, review the "Use Inner Wisdom" chapter of Seven Sacred Attitudes . Each morning for two weeks, review one of the inquiries that follows any one of the essays in that section. Mull over the inquiry for the day. Practice using your intuition and be willing to make some snap decisions.

5. Try this "Basic Option Evaluation" technique
Click here and try out this exercise from Brian Clegg's book, Crash Course in Personal Development . Likely to appeal to you when you want to make a logical, well-reasoned decision, this exercise provides a great way to evaluate your options when you are choosing among a number of different things. It will help you rank the options according to some logical criteria.

6. Get some sage input from the ancient Chinese text, the I Ching
When I want to bring some ancient wisdom into my decision-making process, I consult the I Ching. The I Ching is the most loved and revered book of Chinese wisdom. I use Jack Balkin's modern version of this classical Chinese text (Mr. Balkin is a professor of law at Yale Law School and offers us a practical, astute understanding of this classic.) Whether for personal or business decisions, I use the insights explained in one or more of the I Ching’s 64 hexagram decriptions (64 lessons) to deepen my perspective of the decision I face. I close my eyes, focus on the decision to be made, and approach the I Ching as if it were an ancient bearer of wisdom. I might ask, "What do I need to understand regarding this choice?" Then, using the coins or marbles I have at hand, I toss them and am guided to one of 64 hexagrams that will shed some light on my decision. (The exact technique for selecting a hexagram is explained in Balkin’s book .) Today, when I consulted the I Ching about which hexagram to share with you, I received #14 – Great Possession. The idea of Possession in Great Measure for me means I receive more when I give – so it is that I offer this tool to you.

7. Hire a Coach for a Brief Session
Being an entrepreneur (especially a solo-preneur) can be isolating. Form a relationship with a coach who will be part of your team. I view my own coach as an integral part of my business – a member of my Board of Directors. Sometimes, when I am stuck in the midst of a decision, I call him for a brief session to sort things out. Quite often I just need to hear myself think aloud, see how I have trapped myself in the indecision, and then be able to move forward with a choice. These brief sessions have saved me plenty of time, indecision heart ache and lots of money.

Now Take Action
Circle one tip above that you are willing to put into practice. When is NOW a good time to get started? Also, select a book from the Reading and Listening List below and learn something new. Report your experiences as a post to my blog .