A Simple, One-Word Decision-Making Question To Ask Yourself

Hey there!

We all have biases. For and against things. We make assumptions based on those biases, and we make decisions based on what we think we know to be true.

I’ve found that a simple, one-word question, answered as completely as possible, can help prevent us from making those mistakes.

And I can tell you, using that process is how I built my business (and why some people make vicious fun of me).


(Click/tap ↑↑↑↑↑↑ that red YouTube button to subscribe to my channel. You’ll get notified when I release new videos.)

Hope this helps!

David

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hey there it’s David H Lawrence the 17th
and today I want to talk to you about
something that we all have we can’t
really avoid it but we can be careful
how it is used and how it rises up to
either help us or hurt us and what I’m
talking about are our personal biases so
we have bias against everything and we
have bias for a lot of things as well
and these biases are actually useful
because as over time they prove their
Worth they prove their truth they prove
their falsity we can use those to arrive
at decisions faster the the thing is
that sometimes we have a bias that isn’t
really true and so we have to be careful
that when we when we talk about our
decisions on things that if we’re basing
them on biases that we have that those
biases have been tested so there is one
question that you can ask when you spot
check yourself like you make a decision
and you go okay what would I made this
decision because I think this so the one
word question that you don’t want to ask
yourself is and
so what happened was there’s a famous
study that was done where there were two
resumes side by side exactly the same
one of them had the name of the person
who the resume belonged to very neutral
nondescript non-ethnic and then the
other was a series of ethnic names
foreign names urban names Hispanic names
etc and they asked a large group of
people would you hire this person and I
guess you can guess what the results
were that the nondescript names had a
much higher acceptance rate than the
names that were different that were
foreign that were members of minorities
or were Muslim or Hispanic there were
just all these all of these
socio-economic and racial groups that
are at risk of this sort of judgment and
bias they didn’t fare so well and when
you ask yourself why is it that you did
that you say well you know that name to
me didn’t feel like it fit for this this
this job and you have to ask yourself
and
why is that because you have to be able
to understand the truth behind something
to be able to find it useful otherwise
you can make big huge mistakes and
believe me this is something that other
people have used both for me and against
me as I’ve built my business some of you
may know that I teach a method of
recording audio books that’s different
from punch and roll and pro tools
I recommend a particular USB mic to use
if you’re making a decision at the
beginning of your career and even if
you’re currently doing it I use the
at2020 USB plus all the time and people
instantly make judgments based on their
bias of you have to have a great
microphone you certainly can’t do
anything but punch and roll in Pro Tools
and so you have to ask yourself and
now that you’ve come up with that
decision what makes that true do you
have experience using that mic do you
have experience with my process
completely not just what you’ve heard
from somebody who thinks they know what
the process is and this isn’t just about
technical stuff and business stuff like
you you might think to yourself I’m too
old to be successful it gets into the
whole limiting belief thing that I did
in the belief series last fall as we
record this too old to be successful and
so think about this as you make
decisions based on your rules the biases
that you have always ask and and then
try to be as complete and truthful and
accurate as you possibly can as you
complete the answer to that question I
think that’ll help you make decisions a
lot better and it’ll encourage you to go
find out more about that which you are
biased both for and against I’m
wondering what your biases are when have
you found yourself going oh yeah maybe I
shouldn’t have made that decision
because I was I had the wrong impression
you know biases rear their ugly heads
with many different words and phrases
have you had that happen to you have you
had it happen where you’ve tested your
bias and found it to be false and
changed your mind let me know in the
comments below I’d really appreciate it
we’re doing one of these videos a day
and I would love to I would love to hear
from you I heard from somebody last
night I was at sag AFTRA for a podcast
session I’m a young lady came up to me
alejandra red nose so she came up to me
and she said hello hey Alejandra um I
love hearing I just love I just love
hearing from people and I appreciate you
saying the kind words that you said and
I love getting feedback so in the in the
comments below let me know if you have
any questions about that I’d be happy to
answer them as well and we can also
answer them in upcoming videos if you
want to subscribe to my channel and know
when a new new video is coming up so go
ahead and click on my head or find the
subscribe button somewhere on this page
if you want to see the latest video I’ve
done go ahead and click on that frame
there and it’ll play for you right
that’s what YouTube does I’m David H
Lawrence xvii and I thank you so much
for watching and I’ll talk to you
tomorrow

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Responses

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  1. I agree completely that we all have biases, no matter how vehemently some may deny it. It’s human, flawed yes, but human.

    I have made it a personal “challenge” to step back and examine why I have visceral reactions to moments, people and things. Quite often that “and” approach can be very illuminating.

    Learning to question, rather than simply decide based on bias and incomplete information can have a profound effect on your understanding and acceptance of differing opinions, lifestyles, cultures etc.

    I have just subscribed to your YouTube channel, and…

  2. One of the biases I have is, in fact, based upon one of your main precepts, David. I have a bias toward what works for me. I know that your mantra is, “Do more of what works and less of what doesn’t.”

    That means it is sometimes difficult for me to change my way of doing things. When I do it’s only after exhaustive research and trial.

    This does not mean I am not open to new things—this is a fast changing world and our business changes even faster. It’s just that new things come quickly but also sometimes go even more quickly. However, I’ll do my best to incorporate a new word into my vocabulary for action, and…

  3. First, I love these videos. Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge and expertise with us.

    Second, I LOVE your ACX Masterclass process. It makes so much sense and makes everything so much easier and faster.

    Regarding bias, this isn’t about my personal bias (though no doubt I have them), but about what potential clients who are specifying a particular ethnic voice — African American woman, Asian woman, etc. I’ve seen quite a few of these the last few months and it puzzles me. Amongst my friends there is virtually no difference in how the African American women sound or the Asian women. They are Americans. Any different sound or accent is from the region in which they live. Am I missing something? Is there a different element to a diversity voices.

    About the example of the resume with different names, I wonder how many of those who looked as the ethnic names shied away simply because they were afraid to mispronounce it? We do tend to drift toward the familiar in our lives and even unusual spellings could give pause …. for example Kaley is a familiar name, but how a out Kalei or Kaylee. Would an experiment with a simple spelling change have netted similar results?

    Sorry, I’m too stream of consciousness today. More coffee needed.

    Thanks again!