A Guide to Deciding with your Gut, Head and Heart

Welcome to edition 29 of The CRE Agents' Weekly.

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This is the LinkedIn newsletter for commercial real estate agents, brokers and leaders who want specific and tactical advice to accelerate growth in their business.

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A Guide to Deciding with your Gut, Head and Heart

Commercial real estate agents make thousands of decisions daily. While many of these choices are made almost instinctively, significant decisions demand deeper consideration.

Understanding how to balance the inputs from your gut, head, and heart can impact your decision-making process, influencing both personal growth and professional success.

Trusting Your Gut: Intuition in Decision-Making

Your gut feeling plays a crucial role in decision-making. It's that instinctive reaction, the visceral response that either aligns with or contradicts a potential choice.

In commercial real estate, where timing and market perception are vital, trusting your gut can be the difference between seizing an opportunity and letting it slip away.

Intuition, honed through experience, can guide you through complex negotiations and client interactions, ensuring your decisions are in sync with your long-term objectives.

Engaging the Head: Logical Analysis

Rational analysis, the domain of the head, is where logic reigns supreme. It involves critically assessing the pros and cons, risks, and rewards.

For commercial real estate agents, this means scrutinizing market trends, financial implications, and strategic alignment.

Decisions made with a strong logical foundation are often more sustainable and defendable, especially when navigating the ever-changing landscape of real estate markets.

Listening to Your Heart: Passion and Values

The heart's contribution to decision-making is about passion, values, and alignment with personal and professional goals.

In an industry driven by relationships and long-term engagements, being passionate about your choices can significantly impact client relations and team dynamics.

Decisions that resonate with your core values not only bring satisfaction but also foster a sense of purpose in your career.

Balancing the Three for Optimal Decision-Making

While ideal decisions align gut, head, and heart, often we find ourselves leaning on two of the three. For instance, when your gut and head agree, you might be making a prudent choice, albeit without much passion. Conversely, when your heart and gut align, you might be poised to take a risk that feels right, even if it's not the most logical path.

It's worth recognizing that ignoring any of these aspects can lead to imbalance and potential regrets. Particularly in cases where decisions can have far-reaching implications, finding harmony among these elements is key.

Applying This Framework in Professional Scenarios

• Client Relationships: Understanding the decision-making process helps in predicting and influencing client choices. It’s essential to acknowledge that clients also make decisions based on their gut, head, and heart. Tailoring your approach to resonate with these aspects can strengthen client relationships and improve business outcomes.
• Career Progression: Whether considering a role change or taking on new responsibilities, weighing your options against your gut instincts, logical reasoning, and passions can lead to more fulfilling career decisions.
• Negotiations: In negotiations, recognizing and appealing to the other party's decision-making process is a great strategy. Understanding their motivations and concerns can guide your approach, whether it's aligning with their logical needs or addressing their apprehensions.

In commercial real estate, the interplay of gut, head, and heart in decision-making cannot be understated. Striking a balance among these three elements can lead to more nuanced and effective decisions, fostering both personal satisfaction and professional success.

As you navigate your career, remember that every decision shapes your path – understanding and harnessing these aspects can be your compass towards achieving your professional and financial goals.

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And finally…

Believe in yourself.

Trust in your abilities. Confidence can be a self-fulfilling prophecy.

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About the author

Darren Krakowiak is the Founder of?CRE Success?and the author of?The CRE Agents’ Weekly?on LinkedIn. He works with commercial real estate leaders to accelerate growth in their business. Darren is also the host of?Commercial Real Estate Leadership; you can follow?CRE Success on YouTube.