Episode 27- The Decision Lab: How One Framework Changed the Way I Make Every Choice

We make countless decisions every day on our land, in our business, and in our lives—but most of us were never taught how to make them effectively. In this episode, I share the decision-making framework that completely changed how I approach every choice: the Holistic Management Decision Testing Questions.

I'll walk you through my own journey from making reactive, problem-focused decisions to using a framework that considers the whole picture. You'll hear how I went from spending money on symptoms (like spraying weeds annually) to addressing root causes with one-time investments that actually moved my operation forward.

In this episode, you'll discover:

• Why traditional decision-making fails in complex land management systems
• The costly mistakes that happen when we only focus on the part, not the whole
• How poor decisions lead to second-guessing, analysis paralysis, and burnout
• The framework I've used for years to make confident decisions that align with my values and goals
• Why monitoring your decisions is just as important as making them

If you've ever felt overwhelmed by choices, uncertain about how to move forward, or frustrated that your decisions aren't getting the results you want, this episode will give you a new way to think about every decision you make.

Ready to stop second-guessing yourself? Join me for The Decision Lab workshop on November 19th at 12:00 CST, where we'll work through the seven Decision Testing Questions together in an interactive, hands-on format. 

Connect with Christine:

• Instagram: @ThrivingLandStewards (DM "DECISION" for program details)
• Email: info@thrivinglandsteward.com

The Decision Lab program is on November 18th, 2025 at 12:00 CST Virtually.

Your land, your finances, and your peace of mind will thank you.

Transcript

0:00

Welcome to the regenerative agriculture, thriving as a modern rancher, the podcast for ranchers and land stewards looking to build healthy land, profitable businesses, and a fulfilling life. Join us as we explore regenerative practices and holistic management to help you thrive in today's ranching world.

Christine Martin: 0:20

We make many, many, many, many decisions throughout the day on the land in our business with respect to our finances and in our lives, but many of us have not been taught how to make them in a way that reflects and considers the whole picture. In this episode, i'm gonna share with you the decision making framework that changed my life, the holistic management decision testing questions and how learning to think holistically. Can help you manage your land, your finances, and your life so that you can have the peace of mind and you can move towards that vision that we all have for our life on the land. Honestly, I wish I had known about this decision testing framework much, much earlier than I did. I was introduced to it. Through a beginning Farmer Rancher program that was a six month program hosted by Holistic Management International here in Texas. Uh, every month we met for one weekend a month at different producers operations all over Texas. So we actually got to see holistic management being implemented in the results thereof of that management, and. I remember very specifically the weekend that we were taught, the decision making framework the light bulbs just went off. It was like one aha moment after the other with respect to this. And the reason that it was so impactful to me is. Because throughout my corporate career, I made decisions based on the corporate dollar. At that time, I was a single parent and I knew I needed to support and provide my children. So for the first third of my career, I'm now in my third career. For the first third of my career, I traded ag commodities. Both FOB and cif, so I knew my responsibility. I knew my goal was to buy low, sell high, and then for the second third of my career, when I moved to Texas 25 years ago, I moved into oil and gas, and my responsibility was to sell the natural gas and the crude oil that, that was being extracted outta the ground at the highest price I could. So I knew what my goals were and it, was a very logical transaction. And then when. I started stewarding land when I first came to Texas. I implemented the same thought process to my land management. It was very logical, it was very problem oriented. There were decisions that I made because I was chasing those outcomes, right? We all move on to gland. We inherit land or we decide to be on the land because we have this vision of what we want this life to look like. So we're, we're constantly making decisions to try and get there, but many times, many, many times, and I was at fault of this, um, I only made a decision when it was a problem and generally, that problem was critical now. And I made the decisions based on the current situation without reflecting the entire. Context without reflecting all of the other variables that were interconnected with the problem that I was experiencing. and I see this. When I work with clients so many times, we are reacting to the problems. So many times we're copying what the neighbors are doing, we're doing as the consultant tells us, or we're doing based on something that we heard at a conference or at a workshop, and we're focusing. On the part and not the whole. Let me give you an example. When I moved onto my property, it was very degraded. It had been overgrazed, it had been disturbed. And as a result, I had. A lot of goat weeds, otherwise known as dove weed, otherwise known as woolly croton. That's pretty prevalent here in Texas. And I didn't want the goat weed. I wanted grasses, right? I didn't want a pasture full of weeds. I wanted a pasture full of grasses. So as a first time land steward, I started asking around. My neighbor's like, oh, well you get such and such chemical and you spray it. Well, how often do I do that? Oh, you need to do this every year. I'm like, okay. And then, I contacted my extension agent and had them come out and similar sort of recommendation, and I'm thinking, okay, that means I've gotta buy a tractor and then I've gotta buy. A sprayer to spray these weeds, and it means I've gotta spend more money and buy the tractor and spray the weeds. But I didn't have the money for that yet and I wasn't quite comfortable with it. So. I just mowed. I hired somebody to come and mow it. So mowing occurred every year when the goat wheat came out. when I was introduced to the, this decision making framework. The first of the seven questions of this framework is, does this address the root cause? And my first thought was the goat weeds. Why do I have goat weeds on the land? And it turns out, and I've shared this already, it turns out the goat weeds are there because the land has been disturbed, because the land has been overgrazed and there is no cover on the soil. Which meant, now I knew why the goat weed was there so I could address that. Why, and I didn't have to go to the expense of buying the tractor and buying the chemicals and spraying it every year. If I addressed that root cause, if I changed the management that was being implemented on the land, then that means that. It would be a one time, maybe a two time investment in addressing this management change so that I had less weeds and which is in fact what I did. When I brought on animals onto the pastures. I managed my grazing, I allowed for recovery, and slowly but surely, the goat weed population disappeared. As I share the story, I hope you recognize that, a one-time investment addressing the root cause versus addressing the symptom, which requires equipment, which requires an annual expense, which also requires time and energy to do this, is not quite as effective with respect to rate of return on your time, labor, and money. As I work with clients, I recognize some of the symptoms of making ineffective decisions, I recognize in them some of the similar feelings that I had with respect to managing my land, when we make a decision and we follow through with that decision and we don't get the outcomes that we expected, then we can start second guessing our ability to make good decisions. Which can then make us feel like, oh my gosh, I've got to go and do much more research. So then you have analysis paralysis because you spend so much time researching that you never make a decision because you've been, traumatized because of the poor results of previous decisions. We could be making decisions on the Recommendations of others, whether it's a neighbor, whether it's a workshop, whether it's a conference that doesn't consider the context. The whole that you're managing, right? We are all unique. We all have our unique, different goals that we want to achieve. We have unique bank balances, we have unique knowledge and experiences, and so what works for somebody else will likely not work for you, what I do on my place is likely not gonna work on your place because the context is completely different, and so our decisions need to reflect that. The decision making framework takes all that into consideration. It takes into consideration that you have your own values, you have your own desired outcomes with respect to finances, with respect to land, with respect to your quality of life, and how you wanna steward your operation. I know I've shared in previous episodes that I steward land because I needed to produce clean foods to address my health issues. So, the recommendation of spraying for the goat weeds was a no-go for me. I'm like, I'm not bringing chemicals onto this land because that doesn't allow for clean foods the, the ripple effect of making poor decisions is it can lead to burnout. I did this and, and I've worked with many, many clients who are doing the same. Right? We get so excited to be on the land. We bring in the chickens and then we bring in the goats, and then we bring in the dairy cow, and then we bring the cattle and then we, run the incubator to produce chicks And so we end up spending so much time doing common chores, basic chores that we're exhausted at the end of each day. We don't have time to sit on the porch and drink our morning cup of coffee or drink our glass of wine in the evening, or just to sit and hang out in the pasture and just be with nature because we're so busy, right? So the burnout is a, a ripple effect of making poor decisions, of making decisions, that aren't honoring your values, that aren't honoring your desired outcomes, making poor decisions, decisions that aren't. Giving us the results we wanting, as I said earlier, makes us doubt ourselves. You don't have confidence in the decisions that you're making. This decision making framework will do all that. by using the seven testing questions that makes up the decision making framework, um, the decisions you make, you will have filtered it through the ecological, the environmental. Outcomes you want, you will filter it through the financial outcomes you want, and you will filter it through the social outcomes you want so that when you make a decision, you're very clear of the analysis you did, you're very clear of the decision you've made, you're very clear with the outcomes that you want to see from this decision. And. When you have that sort of clarity, you also build confidence in your management in the results that you're gonna get. One of the most important components, aside from the addressing the root cause of this decision making framework is that once we make a decision, we have to put a monitoring criteria on it so that. You can spot, you can diagnose whether the results you're getting is what you expected, and if you're not getting the results you expect you can catch it before it becomes a train wreck, and adjust accordingly. Because it was life changing for me and because as I've worked with more and more land stewards I see how impactful it is in their management. I'm offering a workshop that I've entitled the Decision Lab, which will be a 90 minute workshop that will be very interactive and we're gonna work through some decisions so that you can experience how running a decision through this framework will help you have confidence in that decision will help you move you towards the vision that you have for your operation. The workshop is not me as a talking head. It's not gonna be me just talking, talking, talking. It will be very interactive. We're going to discuss why our traditional decision making fails in these complex systems that we're involved in, that we manage. We will go through the seven decision testing questions, so you will have a good understanding of those questions and we're gonna apply it to several situations. I'm also offering a one-on-one as part of the package if you so choose. You don't have to, but it is available to you. And I will walk you through, the seven questions with respect to a specific decision you have. I want this to be very practical. I want this to be something that you start implementing in your operation. Uh, I use the decision testing questions all the time. It's now become part of my process. I'm going through these seven questions without even thinking, and I can share that I've made. How do I wanna put this? I haven't had the big, oops, that wasn't right. Thoughts When I've made a decision, my decisions have moved me forward towards my vision instead of getting sidetracked. when we make a decision, that takes into consideration the context that I've referred to when it's moving us towards our desired financial outcome, when it's moving us towards our desired environmental outcomes, when it's moving us towards the life that we want on the land, then it's gonna be a much more effective decision. You will waste less money, you will waste less time, you will waste less energy. And you actually can see things improving in your land from year to year. If you've ever felt overwhelmed, if you've ever felt uncertain about how you should move forward, if you're conflicted about which way to go. If you have several options and you don't know which is the best option, this is the workshop for you. This will give you the clarity and by going through these decision testing questions, you will make a confident decision that this is the best decision for you to make at this time. Given the knowledge you have and the outcomes that you want I will put a link to the decision lab in the show notes. Or you can DM me on Instagram at Thriving Land Stewards and I will send you those details. My wish for you is that you'll understand these decision making questions so that you can make effective decisions and so that you can see progress in your operation so that you don't waste money so that you don't waste time and energy. I hope to see you there. I'll talk to you next time.

16:31

Thanks for listening to Regenerative Agriculture, thriving as a modern rancher. If you enjoyed today's episode, please subscribe, share with fellow ranchers and leave a review. Together we can regenerate our lands, our profits, and our lives. Until next time, keep thriving.