Wise Decisions

A concrete and hands-on method for improving your everyday decisions

Every 15 minutes, each of us can make ten or more small decisions. Some of them are relatively inconsequential, while others can change the course of our lives. What if you could improve all of your decisions, across the board, and start to build a healthier, more productive, and meaningful life?

In Wise Decisions: A Science-Based Approach to Making Better Choices, a team of accomplished industry experts delivers an evidence- and research-based blueprint for making the best decisions you can with the information you have. You’ll learn to make the targeted, repeated investment of energy required to turn your decision-making process into one informed by reason, emotion, intuition, and science.

In the book, you’ll discover:

• How to put the decision-making process under a microscope and learn what makes a decision truly wise
• Ways to help children, teens, and families make wise decisions
• How to train yourself to make wise decisions with voice training and other strategies

A can’t-miss resource for parents, teachers, coaches, managers, executives, and other business leaders, Wise Decisions also offers timeless advice and guidance for anyone else hoping to improve the decision-making abilities of the people close to them.

Foreword ix

Introduction 1

Part I Your Own Decision Advisor (Y.O.D.A) Fundamentals 9

Chapter 1 Health Ignites Wisdom in Decision-Making 11

Chapter 2 Getting Through to the Inner Core 25

Chapter 3 The Voices in Our Head 33

Chapter 4 Time for Serious Reflection 39

Chapter 5 Equipping Y.O.D.A. with the Right Stuff 47

Chapter 6 Protecting Your Inner Core at All Costs 55

Chapter 7 Nature via Nurture: The Science of Uploading Y.O.D.A. 63

Part II Y.O.D.A. Applied to Children, Teens, and Families 75

Chapter 8 Y.O.D.A. Rising: Parenting Young Children 77

Chapter 9 High-Performance Training for Parents: Y.O.D.A. for Teens 85

Chapter 10 Transforming Your Family Story with Your Trained Inner Voice 93

Part III Y.O.D.A. in the Broader Arena of Life 101

Chapter 11 Managing Energy and Your Inner Voice 103

Chapter 12 Managing Emotions and the Role of Y.O.D.A. 111

Chapter 13 The Inner Voice and Managing Stress 127

Chapter 14 The Role of Y.O.D.A. in Finding Flow 135

Chapter 15 Y.O.D.A. Guided Storytelling 141

Part IV Y.O.D.A. Training Strategies 153

Chapter 16 Voice Training 101 155

Chapter 17 Using Y.O.D.A. to Get Home 161

Chapter 18 Summary Wisdom from Y.O.D.A. 171

Sources 177

Acknowledgments 211

Index 217

DR. JIM LOEHR is Co-founder of the Johnson and Johnson Human Performance Institute, which has trained and inspired more than 250,000 leaders around the world since its creation in 1992. He is the author of numerous books, including Leading with Character and The Personal Credo Journal.

DR. SHEILA OHLSSON is a Senior Scientist at the Institute for Applied Research in Youth Development at Tufts University and a Visiting Assistant Professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Education. She earned her doctorate in Behavioral Genetics from the Social, Genetic, and Developmental Psychiatry Centre at King’s College in London.

In just 15 minutes, each of us frequently makes as many as ten or more small decisions. While some of those choices maybe relatively inconsequential or unimportant, others can have life-changing consequences for us and the people we love. The more skill we can bring to each of those decisions, the better our lives will be.

In Wise Decisions: A Science-Based Approach to Making Better Choices, business leader and author Jim Loehr and behavioral geneticist Sheila Ohlsson deliver a scientific, evidence-based roadmap to making the best possible decisions in ambiguous, uncertain, and real-world environments with limited information. You’ll learn to make the repeated and targeted investments of energy you’ll need to turn your decision-making process into one guided by reason and science.

The authors put the decision-making process under a microscope and demonstrate what makes a choice truly wise, as opposed to just good. They also show you how to help your children, teenagers, and family members make wise decisions.

Wise Decisions provides you with a concrete, science-based method to applying timeless wisdom to your everyday decision-making for the rest of your life. Its lessons apply to every decision you’ll make, from the carefully considered to the nearly automatic, from the ordinary to the extraordinary, and more.

An essential handbook for leaders in business, sports, charity, and public service, Wise Decisions is also indispensable for anyone hoping to improve the decisions that impact the friends and family members they hold dear.

PRAISE FOR WISE DECISIONS

“Magnificent! Profound and highly relevant for today’s world. A superb book!”

–STEPHEN COVEY, Co-founder, FranklinCovey Speed of Trust Practice

“Wise Decisions explains the familial messages that have complicated ALL of our lives and illuminates the path to cultivating a free and open mind. Untangling the Gordian Knot of the imprint of family has empowered me to emerge whole, and this book can help you do the same.”

–JAMIE LEE CURTIS, actress, author, and activist

“Wise Decisions offers a creative and powerful means to enhance the quality of life of every individual and, as well, to improve the impact of our judgments and actions on the well-being of the other people we hold dear in our lives.”

–DR. RICHARD LERNER, Bergstrom Chair in Applied Developmental Science and Director, Institute for Applied Research in Youth Development, Tufts University

“Every human being on the planet makes decisions nearly continuously-small ones, large ones, difficult ones, easy ones, good ones, bad ones. Bringing together insights from neuroscience, psychology, sports, and business, this informative book teaches the Y.O.D.A approach to making sound decisions in your professional and personal life.”

–DR. MARY HELEN IMMORDINO-YANG, Neuroscientist and Professor, University of Southern California, author, Emotions, Learning, and the Brain

“Wise Decisions will help you make better choices in every aspect of your life. It is both immensely practical and completely science-based.”

–DAVID LEADBETTER, renowned golf instructor and coach

“This book explains the science and provides concrete tools that can help you make wiser decisions and enjoy a more meaningful and productive life—immediately!”

–DR. MARC BRACKETT, Co-founder and Professor, Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, bestselling author, Permission to Feel