To decide for a goal

As you might have found out yourself, it's easy to come up with a lot of possibilities for potential goals - and it's very hard to decide for one of them. Yet it's crucial to commit yourself to one goal that you're willing to pursuit as long as it takes to get there. That's why in this post I'd like to explore the mechanisms of decision making.

So, how do we make decisions and who actually is making them? Well, we know that our perception can be fooled easily.

For example in the picture on the left, the two fields A and B have the exact same color - whether you believe it or not. We are generally aware that our perception can be deceived. The thing is that we're not capable of doing something against it - even when we know that the two fields have the same color, we still cannot see it. To really see how limited we are watch this Ted Talk by Beau Lotto, it's amazing!

So perception is the first flaw on the way to decide for a goal. But there's a second flaw which is even bigger: We're fooled as well when it comes to decisons. Even though we think that we're deciding on our own, that's not true at all! Our cognitive abilities are as insufficient as our perception. Dan Ariely asks in this Ted Talk: are we in control of our own decisions? And his answer is 'no'! We're very easily manipulate and are unable to realize it. In a supermarket for example, all items those that are on sale are not helping us to save money at all even though the advertising is implying a different truth. No it's the opposite, they tempt us into spending more than we intended to. This is, with an item on sale we are given a third option. The first and second options were to buy or not to buy. The third option that comes with the sale is to buy for a reduced price. Since two of the options contain buying, it becomes more favorable to buy then not to buy.

Anyways it's important to be aware that our decisions are manipulated whether we notice it or not. The conclusion is to not overvalue any decision. It is not that important if you do this or that, it's far more important to decide and stick with the decision. Research has shown that people who were given a choice tend to be unhappier in the long run than people without choice! If you don't believe this, watch Dan Gilberts Ted Talk asking why we're happy. Or the Ted Talk of Nancy Etcoff about the surprising science of happiness.

To summarize: more important than trying very hard to make the right decision is that you make a decision and stick to it. Energy should be used for sticking to the goal not for finding one!

And what's the goal?

This is the second post of this blog. We're walking with tiny steps to slowly but steadily continue our journey towards... errr... Well there we are, in the middle of what it's all about: What's the meaning and the purpose of this blog? This is the first and most important question of any undertaking: Find and define the Goal!


If you know where you are and where you want to go, then you can draw a straight line between these two points and voilà you've got your path to walk. Maybe your walking your path not straight but at least you know the direction. But between knowing the goal an making the first step on your path lies an important increase: your have to switch from knowing to doing, from knowing where to go to start walking! Even though - or because we life in a knowledge society we often forget to DO.
This is in shot how the I-do-method works:

1. (find and) know your goal.
2. (know where you are and) define the path.
3. (stop just knowing and start doing by) making the first step and start walking.

You have to gro through all the three steps even though the order is mutable. Ideally you start by defining the goal - but the sooner you start to walk, the better!

Over the following posts I will elaborate on the I-do-method and use this blog as an example. It is recommendable that you don't just read what I am writing but start to life and do it in parallel for yourself! First, find a goal. Pick anything that is important to you at the moment. Don't pick more then one thing at a time and make sure, that you can stick by it for the time it takes to reach the goal. So choose wisely by first finding out which area is the most important for you. Is it about love, about money, about career, or about health? Just pick and choose!

And now for our example: The goal of this blog is to help you to reach your most desired goal by introducing the I-do-method - step by step. Enjoy!

Day ONE of many to come: January 1st, 2010

My most important resolution for 2010 is to write at least one post per week in this blog. I think this is a good sentence to start this first post for you know: the first sentence of the first post is the most important and hence most difficult one. But every achievement starts with a first tiny step. And there are more steps to come. The coming steps will show you that the world and what is commonly called 'reality' might be seen as well from a very different perspective. Or even from different perspectives!

To make my point clear just from the beginning: What you perceive around you, what you see, hear, smell, taste is basically YOUR universe. It's yours because you built in in the first place and it's yours because you're maintaining it all the time. This is shocking and awesome at the same time. Let me help you overcome your fear and start to be your own goddess!


Let me help you create your own awesome universe!