make better decisions

June 22, 2023

Episode #63: How to Make Better Decisions with Rishma Walji

In this episode, Tobi had an insightful conversation with Rishma Walji on how to make better decisions. Knowing who you are, how you want to show up, and what’s essential to you, is crucial in maintaining boundaries, preventing people from taking advantage of you, and ultimately making better decisions.

Rishma Walji is trained as a Naturopathic Doctor and PhD. She spent over 20 years in clinical practice helping patients make big decisions about health, hormones and family. She’s currently writing a book about intentional decision making. A lot of her work is related to awareness and emotion that can either guide or mislead our life choices. She is host of the XO Conversations Podcast and a TEDx speaker.

Make Better Decisions – Values and Boundaries

Values and boundaries are essential in making better decisions because they act as a compass for our choices. Knowing what our values are helps us understand what is truly important to us and what we want to prioritize in life. This knowledge can help us in decision-making by allowing us to weigh the pros and cons of each choice against our values. Similarly, boundaries are important because they help us protect our time, energy, and resources. When we have clear boundaries, we can prevent other people from taking advantage of us or pushing us beyond our limits. This knowledge can help us in decision-making by allowing us to evaluate whether a decision aligns with our boundaries and whether we have the capacity to take on additional responsibilities or commitments.

Make Better Decisions – The Tradeoff

Trade-offs often involve compromising one aspect of a decision in order to gain another aspect that is more valuable.In the context of volunteering, individuals may have to trade off their time, energy, and resources to contribute to a cause. Volunteering is not free labor but a significant investment of personal resources. Moreover, when establishing boundaries, individuals may have to trade off their time, money, or emotions to maintain those boundaries.

Make Better Decisions – Show Highlights

00:30.9 Tobi introduce the topic on making better decisions

02:12.9 Tobi introduce Dr. Rishma Walji

04:13.4 What sparked you about humans making decisions in their lives

06:45.8 What does community mean to you?

14:28.4 The role of decision making + autopilot

17:42.6 How do people know they’re being purposeful in their decision making

19:43.4 The difference between the need to belong and seeking internal validation

22:30.8 What steps could they take to reevaluate when someone loses their ‘mojo’

31:46.2 Assumptions, capabilities and shoulding

37:43.1 What do we do when people around us don’t like to see the change

52:35.1 What is Rishma most excited about in the year ahead?

Make Better Decisions – Quotes from the Episode

“Our health and our lifestyle affects everything.”

“Real connection is where someone who genuinely wants to talk to you, wants to respect your thoughts, your feelings, wants to share what’s going on in life.”

“When you’re in a healthcare profession or in a volunteering field or any kind of caregiving profession, there is this aspect of giving of yourself.”

“We’re supposed to be on autopilot because we can’t function if we have to make every single decision consciously.”

“We’re going to be influenced by how we’ve done things before.”

“There’s a subtle difference between feeling like you belong and belonging, which is a core human need.”

“Sometimes people are in your life for a reason or a season.”

Helpful Links

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