Are you overwhelmed? 

What is your H.I.T. list and what is your most important thing(s)

A while ago I got together with coaching and supervision colleagues and I was reminded of one of my favorite (negotiation and decision) interventions:  The H.I.T. list, where you have three questions:

·      What is your Have-to-have?

·      What do your Intend (or would like) to have? And

·      What can (or must) you Trade ( or give up) to get your Have-to-have (for sure) and possibly your Intend to have?

When you think about this, then you can decide what is not on these lists, and discard - or delegate.

Let’s look at a few examples:

When deciding about something nice (a holiday, for example)

H: What do you have to have for it to be a good vacation? 

For me, it would need a comfortable setting with good restaurant(s) nearby, a place to go walking from the place… a kitchenette… and nice weather (it has been very rainy here).

I: What would you like to have? 

For me, “dogs allowed” (almost an H, really, but not quite), good ice cream in the vicinity, good public transport, possibly museums nearby, and a cute city nearby.

T: What will I give to get what I want?  

Money, research time, travel time, no time to have clients….

Let’s now look at a more difficult example -

When thinking about staying at a difficult job

H: What do I need to stay in this difficult job?

Maybe it’s enough pay (the German speakers call that “Schmertz Geld”

- or it’s only for a specified length of time (eg: in two years I can leave and can say that I tried my best)

- or maybe there is at least two colleagues you can enjoy time with

or…

this must be a very personal decision, so you fill in the blanks.

I: What would I like to have?

This might be some benefit that is not a deal-breaker but that helps to keep you “healthy and happy”. 

Maybe there are free massages, for example, at your workplace.

Maybe you have a nice physical working environment

T: What must I give up to get my H-list at least? 

Maybe that means you are “on call” too much of the time,

or that your work-life balance suffers more than you like. 

What are you going to give to keep what you want or need?

Again, this is very personal. 

The biggest question with this situation for me is a question of energy and time:

How long can I live this way and stay healthy and how much energy am I willing to sacrifice before the deal-breaker(s) are broken?

So, I hope you can try this H.I.T. list out and tell me how it goes for your next decisions. 

This can also be used to prepare a negotiation, too, of course.

Wishing you a successful short week (we have a four day weekend starting tomorrow),

Patricia Jehle                                       patricia@jehle-coaching.com