Case Study
​James built his packing company from nothing, had a team of 18 and still considered himself lazy.
At least that what he told me on the first call.

“If it’s not challenging my brain or if there’s no urgent deadline, I’m not doing it.” he told me.

And so, we began improving his thinking skills, to make procrastination a thing of the past.

One day during session, I realized he had another problem.
Making good decisions quickly.

James wanted the best part of each option, which meant he kept changing his mind.
Whether it was projects, direction of marketing campaigns, or even hiring employees, James wanted it all.
But instead it gave him nothing.
It cost him thousands of dollars in lost opportunities and endless frustration with this team.

James thought that, as a business owner hard decisions were normal.
It’s true.
As the business owner you’re the one responsible and you’re the one who decides but it does not have to be hard.
And it most definitely doesn’t have to take so long.

The reason why James struggled with making decisions was because he had a weak thinking skill of comparing.
Most of the time we just get told decision-making frameworks
But if your brain doesn’t have the foundation thinking skill of comparing, no decision-making framework is going to work for you.


Once we strengthened James's ability to compare correctly, everything shifted.
And thank God we did, because two weeks later, James got a text message that would test everything we'd been building.

Comparisons 

James struggled with making decisions because, as he would compare, he would simply say what he liked most about each option.


I like option A because it’s bigger
I like option B because it’s cheaper

The problem is,
That’s not really comparing.

For one option, he spoke about size and for the other option he spoke about price.

This makes it very hard for the brain to understand what’s actually going on.


To compare correctly,
We’ve got to compare our options on the same parameters, about the same characteristics.

Talk about size for both
Talk about price for both.
The color, weight, experience, material, manufacturer etc for BOTH.

This way your brain is able to actually compare.
Then, when it comes to making the decision, if you know what’s important to you, the decision becomes obvious.

Because if you know the most important factor in making this decision is size, and you have the size of each option, you know exactly what to pick.

Here’s the thing,
Knowing what’s most important ALSO requires comparing.


So if you’re struggling with comparing, you don’t know what’s important to you and you don’t know which option provides what, so of course you’re gonna have a hard time making a decision.


I’m gonna share with you 3 exercises I did with James to improve comparing and then I’ll share with my decision-made easy framework that makes decisions obvious. But, it will only work if your comparisons is strong. So start with these exercises and once you start seeing improvements, you can implement the framework.

3 Exercises to Improve Compare

Exercise #1 I did with James:
Take 2 random items on your desk and compare them on the same parameters.
For example a pen and charger.
What is the color of each, what is the material of each, price, shape, use, how long have you had it for?
Compare them on as many parameters as possible.

Do it a few times with different items on your desk. As you get the hand of it, instead of just comparing 2 items, try 3, 4 or even 5. What is the purpose of each these 5 items? Where did you buy each of these items? How often do you use each of these items.

Once you can do it easily, it’s time to move to exercise 2 which is more abstract:

Exercise #2
This time you’re gonna compare 2 tasks you have.

For example, comparing answering an email and sending a proposal
Or creating social media content and hiring an employee.

Again, you’re gonna make sure you’re comparing them on the same parameters.
How long does each task take? What is the ROI of each task? How fast do I get results from each task? How many people are involved in each task etc.

Do it multiple times with multiple different tasks.
And like last time, you can compare more then 2 tasks at the same time.

Just make sure you’re comparing them all on the same parameter.


Exercise #3 I did with James, is the same thing just even more abstract, which gets your brain thinking even more.

This time, you’re gonna comparing values and personality traits.

Try comparing:
Happiness and Joyful
Ambitious and freedom
Family and faith
Love and kindness

Go deep. You’ll get a few immediate answers but see how many you can get.
How does it make you feel when you live by these values?
How does it make you feel when you’re on the receiving end of someone living these values?
How often do you see these values? Etc.

And as always, see if you can compare more than 2 at time.
Hatred, Anger, Depression and Jealousy
Freedom, minimalism, independence and ambition

Just remember, whatever you’re comparing, make sure you’re comparing them on the same parameter.



Decision-Made Easy Framework

We’re gonna make a simple chart.
Across the top of your paper, write down all the options you have.

On the left side of the paper write down all the factors that affect your decision.
Time, price, experience, effort, size… write it all out
Fill in the chart.
In your left column, next to every factor, place a number based on how important it is.

So if size is most important, it gets a #1.
If price is next important, it gets a #2

Once you’ve clearly prioritized all the aspects & filled out the chart, the answer will be right in front of you.

Because the option needs to have number 1.
If only one option has number 1, it’s the answer.

If three options have number 1, then which of those have number 2 also etc.


The stronger your comparison skill is, the faster and better you get at it.
​Eventually, you may not even need to write it down as your brain can do all the comparisons in your head.




If you’ve got a fear of making the wrong decision, you’re not alone.


Emotions and cognition are part of the same coin.
There’s a really good chance you’ve made bad decisions in the past because your brain didn’t have good decision-making skills, so you suffered the consequences and then it only reinforced in your brain that your bad at making decisions.

We want to show our brain that it was simply a gap in skills and now we’re learning the skills so now can make the cycle go the other way.

You improve comparisons, make a good decision that had a good outcome, now you’re brain knows you’re getting better at making decisions and the cycle continues.


Two Weeks Later
Two weeks after we'd been working on James's comparing skills, he got a text from an equipment supplier he'd worked with for years. They were selling a specialized packing machine that would double James's production capacity. Price: $500,000. The catch? Another company was interested, and James had just a few hours to decide if he wanted it before they moved on to the other buyer.

Old James would have panicked. He would have spent the whole time trying to gather every possible piece of information, compare it to every other option he could think of, trying to say all the good reason of every way to approach the situation.

Now James was able to make the decision in just a few minutes. He got clear on what was important, and compared each option accordingly. The whole process went as fast and his emotional state made it look like he just decided on which coffee to order.


Cheers to Peak Brain Performance!​