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Your Life Systems is a podcast about building practical systems for everyday life.
Join Wes as he shares simple ideas, practical frameworks, and real-world experience to help you make consistent progress in the areas of life that matter most.
Most people don't need more information. They need better implementation.
Instead of relying on motivation, you'll learn how to build systems that make success easier, more consistent, and more sustainable.
The Power of Pre-Deciding
Hi, I'm Wes. Welcome to The Power of Pre-Deciding.
Pre-deciding is exactly what it sounds like. It's when you make a decision before you need to make the decision.
The power of pre-deciding, at least what I've found in my life, is that the more things I can pre-decide, the more mental capacity or mental freedom I have to work on the things that are most important to me.
I'm going to give you an example from my life here shortly that I hope will cement what I mean by pre-deciding.
Some decisions are too important to make over and over again.
Every time you make a decision, you have a chance to make a mistake.
If you study game theory or poker theory, if you play poker, every time you can force your opponent to make a decision, they have a chance to make a mistake.
So overall, the more times you can force your opponents to make a decision, the more opportunities they have to make a mistake.
This is true in almost every area of life.
The more times you have to decide on something important, the more often you have an opportunity to make a mistake.
But if you pre-decide the most important things in your life and make sure you get it right, then you don't have to make that decision over and over again.
When you decide - and you get to decide, never forget that, you get to decide - your priorities, values, and boundaries in advance, you don't have to debate them every time life puts you under pressure.
You decide once, then you use that decision to guide what you do.
This is not about judging what you do or don't do, but I made a decision in my life probably 30-some years ago that I've used every time the decision has come up.
Again, when I tell you what this is, I'm not telling you how to live your life.
I'm using this as an example of what I've used in my life.
I don't drink alcohol.
That was the decision.
I made that decision sometime in college.
For me, it was more about - I tell people I'm a control freak - and that's the reason I don't drink alcohol, because you can lose control and I don't want to lose control.
Period.
But that's not the important part.
Maybe I'll make a video someday about that. I don't know.
Maybe not.
That's not important.
Here's what's important.
I made that decision once, and every single time alcohol has been in the equation since then, I didn't have to decide.
I didn't have to decide whether I took a drink.
I didn't have to decide whether I joined in or whether I drank.
It was, "I don't drink."
Period.
It didn't matter.
I don't care what the occasion is.
Peer pressure doesn't exist for me because I already made the decision.
Now, that really doesn't have a lot to do with business, which I talk about a lot.
It does have something to do with success, and again, don't miss the point here.
The point is not that you can't be successful if you drink alcohol.
That's not what I'm saying.
The point is I made one decision, so I never have to think about it again.
People around me learned, and now they don't bother me with it.
I don't get offered drinks.
I don't get invited to drunken parties because I'm not going.
I'm not doing it.
Period.
I already made that decision.
Now, what can you make a decision about that's going to help you never have to make decisions in the future about the same thing?
That's what you need to think about here.
I'm not telling you what to make the decision on.
I'm telling you to find a decision you can make, something you can pre-decide on, like I did with "I don't drink."
The end.
I never have to worry about that again.
If the question ever comes up, I've already decided.
Next.
I don't have to waste any brain power on it.
So remember, you get to decide what your priorities are and what your values are.
When you decide those things ahead of time, it frees up your mind for the important things you can do.
Repeatedly making the same important decisions wastes mental energy.
So in your business, or in your search for success, what's one decision you can make right now that you're never going to have to waste mental energy on again?
We have a limited amount of mental energy.
The more you can reserve and protect your mental energy for the most important things in your life, the better you're going to be able to make important decisions.
Pre-deciding protects the things that matter most when things don't go well.
When things are going off the rails in your business, life, or success, the things you've pre-decided are going to help you stay on track when everything goes to chaos.
You need to make decisions without emotion or motivation.
So let's go back to my decision about drinking.
Again, I'm not preaching, but I've never been drunk in my life.
Not a single time, not in high school, not college.
I saw what it did to people around me, and I made the decision that I'm going to be in control of my decisions at all times.
Drinking would make it where I might not be completely in control of my decisions.
So I made the choice.
I'm not going to be impaired because of this.
That was my decision because, first, I take responsibility for my decisions, and I want to make sure I'm making smart decisions with a clear head.
That's where that ties in.
You need to make these types of decisions when you're not emotional about them.
You can have motivation, but these are important decisions.
When you pre-decide something, it's important.
I've used that one for the rest of my life for 30-plus years now.
That was the decision, and I've stuck with it, and I'm not thinking about it.
I haven't thought about it for years.
That's just the way I am.
But let's say you make a decision and it works for you for a while.
You've pre-decided something, so you don't have to waste any more mental energy on it.
That's great.
But let's say in five years, you've found that decision's not serving you, or something's changed.
Again, let's go back to who gets to make the decisions.
Who gets to decide your priorities and your values?
You get to.
So if you pre-decide something today and find in the future that it's not working as well as you'd like, you get to decide.
You can change it.
But you need to sit down without emotion, with a level head, think it through, and if it needs to change, change it at that time.
Pre-deciding is not "not thinking."
Pre-deciding is not a refusal to think.
It's thinking it through one time, then making the decision.
The thinking has already been done.
You think it through.
That's the end of the thought process.
Then you decide, and you go on with it.
Identify recurring decisions in your life.
Then set priorities before they come into conflict.
I've spoken at times about how I have a list of values.
I have my values in order, and I use that order to help me make or pre-decide things.
I made a video recently where I talked about what I would do if my grandson showed up this afternoon while I was working and wanted to do something.
Well, I've already made the decision based on my values.
My family is ahead of my financial freedom, so if my grandson comes, he comes before work.
That's just an example.
I'm not telling you what your priorities should be.
I'm telling you that you get to make your priorities.
You can use your priorities, your values, or your core values to make or pre-decide the things that are important to you so you don't have to make the same decisions over and over.
Turn important decisions into rules, defaults, or systems that guide your future choices.
Every time you turn an important decision that you have to make repeatedly into a set of rules, a system, a framework, or a guideline, it helps you in the future.
It protects your mental capacity for other important decisions.
Pre-decisions reduce decision fatigue and eliminate unnecessary debate.
They're easier to do consistently because you're not starting from zero.
Remember, you think it through once, then you pre-decide, and then you don't have to decide again.
You can evaluate and adjust as needed.
I mentioned that before.
If you find something you've pre-decided is not working well, then you get to decide to change it.
A pre-decision answers, "What have I already decided?"
A system answers, "How will I consistently carry out what I've already decided?"
So you make the pre-decision, then you create a system or framework that helps you consistently use the pre-decision.
Those are the two steps.
Then you evaluate and adjust if you need to.
The strongest decisions are often the ones you make once and use forever.
Decide what matters while you're thinking clearly, then design a system or framework to keep it in place.
You don't need to debate every important decision each time it appears.
You can decide your priorities and values in advance, then build your life around those decisions.
So my challenge to you today, what I'm going to leave you with, is this: What is one thing you can pre-decide right now?
What's one thing you can make a decision on today and continue to use for the foreseeable future that can help you in any area of your life you want to?
Whether that's success, life, business, or whatever.
That's the challenge.
Then, once you pre-decide on one thing, start looking for the next thing you can pre-decide and save your mental energy.
I'm Wes. This was Your Life Systems.
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Thanks for being with me.
See you soon.