How do you structure your values?

Do you go for quantity or quality?

Do you experience value conflicts?

"I am always there for my friends" - quantity

"When I am with friends, I am 100% there" - quality

Quantity values are more likely to create conflicts.

Quality values are more flexible.

What will you choose?

Do you employ white lies?

Do you feel bad when you do?

Why do you use them?

So you don't hurt other people?

Maybe so you do not get judged?

To avoid trouble?

When do you use them?

Honesty can be painful, for others and you.

No one is always honest and rightly so.

White lies aren't always appropriate either.

Choose your white lies wisely.

Do you hold back what you think?

Do you bottle it up for later?

Do you brood about things for days?

Why don't you say what you think?

Because you don't want to displease?

By not saying what you feel, you hurt yourself.

Why choose hurting yourself over maybe hurting another?

Be direct in a polite way and get it out.

Do you have a problem?

What exactly is the problem and why is it a problem?

Who are the people involved and why?

When and where is it a problem and why?

How is it a probelm and why?

Answer these questions gives a great basis for solving problems.

To solve a problem you need to ask the right questions.

Ask more questions before jumping into action.

What stories are you telling yourself?

How are these stories impacting you?

How do they impact your thoughts?

How do they impact your decisions?

How do they impact your actions?

Where do they come from?

Do these stories serve you?

Are they even true?

You can choose the stories you tell yourself.

Get yourself a new storybook, right now.

How much do you know?

How much does another know?

What is the quality of each sides information?

How is the information interpreted?

How is each side feeling?

What experiences have they had?

Information asymmetry is dangerous.

It creates discord and misunderstandings.

Open and direct communication is the way to go.

Talk more, fight less.

Do people accuse you of things?

Do you accuse others?

Are there people that threaten you?

Do you pose threats to others?

Why do you accuse or threaten others?

How important are the topics for you?

Behind every accusations lies an offer.

People get worked up and accuse you, when it is important to them.

If it is important, they want to find a solution.

"Between stimulus and response there is a space"

"In that space is our power to choose our response."

"In our response lies our growth and our freedom."

- Viktor Frankl

We tend to skip the space and respond immediately.

Take a breath and enjoy the space.

The space in-between is more powerful than you think.

It is your only true power, to choose how you respond.

Cherish the space and grow.

What is the next step?

And then what is the next after that?

Does the step feel too big and daunting?

Which is the right next step?

Do you worry about your next steps?

Will I reach my goals with the next step?

Focus on the next step.

Make the next step nice and small.

If it is in the wrong direction, not much is lost.

Continuous progress through a continuous process.

Do you encounter different cultures regularly?

How do you go about this?

Do you do some research?

Do you announce your ignorance right away?

How do you react to other's behaviour?

In Germany, it is polite to finish your plate...

In Japan, it is an insult to the host.

And they will keep feeding you till you stop eating...

Ignorance is not always bliss.

Do you volunteer?

Do you do anything for the sake of helping?

Why not?

Are you too busy?

Too busy with what?

Do you get joy out of helping others?

Can you buy that joy?

Helping by doing is more joyful than leveraging money.

Volunteering is an important ingredient of health.

Volunteer more and be happier.

Do you not try things...

...because you could fail at them?

Would you regret not trying?

Would you loathe yourself for not trying?

Why are you scared of failure?

Is not trying the same as failing?

Not trying things that are important to us,

out of the fear of failure,

is the same as failing.

So what do you have to lose?

How do you react to another person's emotions?

Do you take them onto yourself?

Or can you discern them away from you?

Can you emphasize with the other person?

Can you let their emotions take their course?

Can you be quiet in the face of them?

Emotions are human.

If someone is emotional there can be thousands of reasons for it.

We do not need to take on the other persons emotions either.

Empathy and stillness are the key.

#familybusiness #emotions #dailythoughts

Do you cherish best practices?

What do you like about them?

What do you not like about them?

How easily applicable are they for you?

How specific is your situation?

Have you defined your situation properly?

We tend to look for best practices as solutions.

Often, they are not applicable however.

Specific situations call for specific solutions.

Best practices work for replicable problems.

Did something not work out for you recently?

How did you feel?

Why did it not work out?

What is the consequence of it not working?

What do you need to change in response?

Things don't work out for a reason.

Often, we are not ready.

Often, we need to think bigger.

Sometimes, we need to think smaller.

Find the right changes for you and create an advantage.

Have you had chance encounters?

Did you manage to capitalize on them?

If you did not, why not?

How do you evaluate chance encounters?

How do you know if it is an opportunity?

How do you know if it is a threat?

Often, we need to act fast to capitalize on them.

However, some chance encounter are threats.

Learn how to evaluate them quickly and take the decision.

Did you witness someone make a stupid decision?

What was stupid about it?

Why did they decided that way?

How would you have decided?

What information and knowledge do they have?

What information and knowledge do you have?

What situation were they in?

What situation are you in?

People have different resources, information, skills, experiences and situations.

Don't judge before analyzing everything.

Maybe it was not as stupid as you think.

Do you conduct experiments?

Do you treat decisions as an experiment?

Which decisions can you turn into experiments?

Can you turn a project into a series of experiments?

Experiments are tests with low risk for you.

You do them to test your thoughts and ideas.

You do them to help you in decision-making.

Why don't you do experiments?

Go do more experiments.

What are you prepared to sacrifice?

Which choices are you prepared to make?

Which consequences are you ready to shoulder?

Which responsibilities can you afford?

With every decision you make, come sacrifices.

Every yes comes with a hundred nos.

Responsibilities, consequences, and choices are all forms of sacrifice.

Choose carefully which sacrifices you are happy to make.

This will impact your decisions for the better.