Why are Questions are Important in Decision Making?

Sometimes, I am overwhelmed by the number of decisions that we have to make on a daily basis. And this sometimes equals to stress since there is a feeling that there is nothing we can do about it. However, being the organized person I am, would like to outline some ways we can help make this process a little easier to manage. But first let's see what 3rd party decision making or delayed decision making can potentially do to us:


Issues with not making a decision

When faced with some difficult decisions, normally what would happen is:

• We would then either leave the decision making to another person, so we won't have to do it ourselves but this method allows the party who is deciding for you to take whatever measures they want in perhaps their own best interest. This may not necessarily bode well for us since we are no longer in control of the decision.
• Or we might just leave the decision to be decided at a later date. The problem with this is it lingers and camps out in the back of your mind and it can be an irritating feeling that you still have not taken the right steps. The guilt from not being able to move can also paralyze you in functioning in other areas (depending on the seriousness of the decision which you are about to undertake).

However, I feel that most of the times, we don't necessarily have all the answers to the questions. Since we are not seeing the entire picture, we become confused and are uncertain in making a decision. And that is why we should be asking intelligent questions.

My suggestion is to question it till we have an answer. Just like my previous entry on having a productive day, once we have the questions answered, we have in fact in the process of finding our solution. Most of the times, we do not have all the facts with us and tend to make poor decisions or none at all since we cannot see the entire picture. While doing this does not always guarantee that you would have made the right decision, it does at least put things in perspective. Here are some steps that can help you get started right away:

1. What is the problem at hand?
2. What is the cause to this particular problem?
3. What are the available measures or solutions to this problem?
4. What is the most effective and efficient way to solve this problem based from the identified solutions?
5. Immediately take action!
6. Review and learn from the result that takes place.
7. Rinse and repeat until problem is solved.

Another tip is to get a sounding board or boards. Sometimes, you need to hear your thoughts aloud and get another person to listen to you. You also may get some good feedback from the other person. So it may be important to even select the right kind of person you do this with.

To be more accurate, the above questions is simply a guideline and in fact, we should be asking a whole lot more questions since sometimes even questions can be layered and the actual answer hidden by human emotion, secrets and whatnot. As long as your objective is clear, ask any question till you get to the root of the issue and potentially the solution. Hopefully, this simple decision making process combined with external input will give you less headaches when the time comes around to make another decision.

How to Effortlessly Get Anything and Everything you Want from Life

Have I got your attention? Now, before I start spilling the secrets, you will need to be as open to the suggestions I am about to share or you might as well stop reading now. The results from the application of the techniques differ from person to person and I will state very clearly that there is effort involved but you will find it easier as you continue to let it sink into you. I have tried it out a few key instances in my life and by golly, it does work. So if you are still reading this and willing to proceed, then let’s get started.

So, what exactly is this incredible method to finally get the anything and everything? Well, it is a combination of auto-suggestion, The Secret and spiritual guidance. As there are religions in the world and animism that is still being practiced, humans have always believed in a higher power or some sort of infinite intelligence that somehow shapes our fate. It also represents a source of comfort and dependence that humans can relate to when they cannot turn to each other for help or to put it in another way, the appropriate phrase is a "miracle".

If I told you that that "miracle", starts and ends with you, would you believe me? To put it simply, you are the "miracle", we all are. You are the conduit to the infinite intelligence that is out there in the universe. By tapping into the incredible reservoir of potential energy stored in each of us, we can possibly attain whatever your mind sets itself up to do. So, how do we go about it?

I wish to share with you 4 simple steps of achieving this state of transcendental consciousness which I have practiced in my own life:

1. Determine what it is you want and why. It is always important to determine the exact thing you desire and why you need it. Give yourself as many reasons as you can to achieve it.
2. Simply believe that you will get it, don't question how you will get it. Whenever possible, picture exactly in your mind what you will be getting.
3. Repetition of your belief. Do it at least once a day or if possible, as many times in a day so your sub-concious mind accepts it as a natural extension of your body.
4. Absolute blind faith. If you want or need it that badly then you will find that this step will be a piece of cake. As you continue to believe and repeat to yourself, you will find yourself drawn to the things that bring about the success of wish.

I was originally skeptical about the steps above and did not believe them on the onset. However, at one point where I really wanted to get a distinction with honors on my degree, I went full out since I thought that I could and should use anything within my capabilities to attain it. I will say this much, I did use this technique and may I add, lots and lots of effort to get it. I would like to say that effort was the key to getting my 1st Class Honors (I am not trying to brag but just stating a fact) but sometimes there were factors beyond my control and this added boost somehow did the trick in getting my way. There were too many instances that things that could turn out worse somehow went smoothly before me.

Before I contradict myself on having an effortless method, I would like to clarify that sometimes in order to ensure you achieve your ultimate desire you are looking for, you just can't afford to chance it. So that's another lesson, even if you are using auto-suggestion, never leave any stone unturned even in the best of times until you achieve whatever you are looking for.

3 Keys to Achieving your Goals (whether big or small)

If there is any one thing that I would like to mention at least once in this blog is perhaps what drives some people to achieve their goals while others fail. I will definitely revisit this topic again but for now, let's start with something simple. For example, if we were to use this blog as a sample scenario, to me it was a goal of mine to share my wisdom perhaps to my future self and children given a chance and also at the same time help others learn from my experiences. While I may come off sounding cheesy and trying to be a wannabe know-it-all, I also believe that the teacher or preacher in my case, will learn more when he is sharing it with others. So don't mistake me being entirely self-sacrificing. I am doing it for myself first and helping anybody else along the way. Going back to the topic, after doing some reflection these days, I have come to the conclusion that what started me to write this blog on a frequent basis is a few key factors which helped this sustain momentum. To put it simply in the 3 steps I have highlighted below:

Initial and subsequent planning on achieving your goals

I do think this primary step is a given since without it I wouldn't have thought about what my goals were, what I intended to achieve, how long it was going to take, and so forth. Ask any successful person worth their salt and they will probably tell you that success is planned not a fluke since you must be able to recreate the successful situation on a consistent basis. Only then, will you be motivated to move on to the next goal and duplicate the process. Identifying the criteria, limitations and parameters for a successful outcome allows you to be aware of the current situation without allowing emotion or factors not within our control to dictate where our goals are headed. However, do not fall into the trap of planning but not taking the actions once the steps have been outlined. Once you prioritize your goals and direction, the next step is to take...

Quick decisive action

I have to emphasize on the words "quick" and "decisive" since people habitually catch on a procrastinator bug which can be self-defeating if it lingers too long. When it is within your capabilities, always make sure you check that you are meeting your standards that you have set for yourself and just swiftly act on it if the decision is clear as day. If there is a crossroad where a decision must be made, take enough time to think about it but not too long. Once the decision is made, move forward rapidly to act upon it so that a result can be achieved from there. Better to have act than not done anything since you are able to decide whether it was a success or a failure rather than leaving it up in the air. Don't ever regret what you did do, only regret what you knew but did not do.

The ability to see it through to the end

Really, you may be a good planner or even a fantastic executor of action but all of that goes to waste if you falter when the road gets bumpy. A secret to this is really finding out what is the deep seated motivation driving you to accomplish this goal. Call it passion or an interest in whatever it is, this will be the final key in unlocking that treasure trove of goals. Reviewing your actions and coming up with new preparation to suit the situation also goes a long way to ensure your goals come to fruition.


And if all else fails, this may sound corny, but you just have to have faith and believe in your own ability, planning, decisions, action and interest is the right way and just wait it out till the winds blow in your direction. Sometimes, it really is luck when preparation meets opportunity.

8 tips on creating more happiness in our life

As promised, do find below a list I managed to whip up together after getting my excitement bubbling and hopes high after posting my last entry. I know I said its going to be a micro but when I started, I just couldn't stop and now it looks like a macro post. Anyway, without further ado, let's get started:

1. Have a grand or great vision of your own self. To be wise is to dream of the amazing things that we cannot do but somehow see it in the future and actually take the steps necessary to reach it. It makes you a greater person even if you have not arrived at your destination
2. Imagine more. As kids, we used to dream and imagine when playing by ourselves or with other kids. However, as we grew up, we slowly discarded this wonderful ability to imagine and thus become another cog in society. One of the secrets in being wise in obtaining happiness is to imagine or dream of what others could not.
3. Find practical usage of your imaginations. Imagining and dreaming is good but using it every day in your daily life or with interactions with other people helps bring it to fruition and helps to cement in your mind that things imagined can be done. And you may even try even more creative ways to use your imagination and thus appear to be wiser (or in this case creative) than most.
4. Positive image of self and the world around you. It goes without saying that a wise person is above the petty grievances that surrounds them. He or she is always optimistic of what the future brings since intrinsically, they have their priorities and values aligned correctly.
5. Be polite, kind, sincere; mind your manners and have a sense of empathy. If you let it, everything and everybody is out to get you. A wise person knows that he gets more done when he applies proper manners when reaching his objective. Have you ever seen a wise person as a rude, obnoxious, arrogant or self-centered? Why pour more fuel into the fire by making the world worse than it already is? Why not BE that person to make somebody else’s day a brighter one? Humans are by far the most civilized of creatures on the planet, we are able to invent and invest time to build complex social systems of proper manners and etiquette. It would be a waste to let our most precious resource of our culture dissipate.
6. Follow your heart and dreams. Without something to drive you internally, death would be a better option. What is freedom of choice if we do not utilize it to be who we want to be and who we are at the core? Without the desire to be true to ourselves and search for our identities and actually live it, how can we live to face our dreams as kids? The world would be a much better place if we all were followed our hearts and chased or live our dreams. To know this fact alone, you are already miles ahead of somebody who doesn’t.
7. Have a sense of integrity and ethics. Warren Buffet once said that you can destroy 20 years of reputation in a matter of a few minutes and he is right. It probably took him his entire life to learn about it the hard way and that’s why he is one of the world’s richest men, not only in money but in mind. What kind of people would we be if we did not have a sense of moral principles to guide us in our daily dealings? Each of us possesses an internal compass which guides our thoughts and actions and using this helps us maintain a balance in our life with the relations with other people.
8. Help somebody else find their happiness. It is easy enough to get caught up with each of our own happiness but sometimes helping another person achieve their goals and dreams also helps to increase and magnify our own happiness. If you believe in fate and affinity, we are all here not as individual fragments but a part of a bigger whole. We each have the capability to increase and probably meant to make a difference in somebody else life. We could definitely appreciate the world a whole lot better if help arrived not because you asked for it but because somebody thought about you and provided it to you without even being asked.

This now concludes my epic reflection on the attaining a more peaceful and happy life. I guess now I have got to go think more about more topics to write about. Look forward to the next entry.

4th Fundamental Thought – Happiness in Daily Living

Finally, we are coming to an end of our mini-series and it has been an enlightening one even for me. As I started to think about each of these topics through before writing them, I would start to think of more and more ideas which I normally not come to realize. I guess reflection or proper thought put into context and a medium could well affect the mind of a person and in a strange way allows me to be happy as well. Here is my definition of happiness; I will not say that I have found the answer to happiness but I believe that happiness is:

1. What you make of it in life and;
2. A combination of various happiness factors combined

The former point being that if you decide to make the best of what life deals to you and if you persist long enough, whatever your happiness is, it will somehow come to you. Happiness is a state of mind rather than something that is not within our control. To put it in an optimistic way, we were all born with happiness intrinsically built inside and it’s just a matter of finding a way to unlock that treasure chest and let it burst forth. I would like to borrow a quote from Zig Ziglar to illustrate this point, “Whether you believe you are right or wrong, you are RIGHT!”

As for the latter point, I stand by the principal that life is to be lived in a holistic way and the more factors that is going right in your life, the more wonderful it will be. I would consider each factor that adds on in your life becomes something like a force multiplier which in turn helps to amplify the happiness in your life. I also would like to think that by adding more happiness factors in life would be akin to developing more passive income streams but in this case its passive “happiness” income streams. So that just in case if a certain “happiness” stream goes downhill, you still have other happiness factors to back you up. I know from personal experience that when the mind is in a funk, it is much harder to get out of it than when you are at your peak. There was a statistic going around that for each bad news you receive; you would need SEVEN good news to keep you happy. I am already starting to build warehouses of “happiness” streams to keep me going and hopefully aid me and others when the time comes around. I am currently working out a list of things to put in as happiness factors based on this article. Call it a micro-article on happiness. Look forward to it tomorrow. Ciao, gotta go set it up!