Ep. 67: Stop Looping: Laura Dionisio's Trade Study Matrix for Career Clarity
What if the reason you can't make a decision isn't that you lack clarity, but that you haven't been taught how to find it? Laura breaks out an actual spreadsheet she built during one of her own career crossroads, and it's equal parts brilliant and hilariously extra.
This is a Pivot Tool episode, which means Laura is going deep on the tactical side of something most people treat as either pure gut instinct or pure paralysis: decision making. She opens with total honesty, admitting that even though she now coaches from a place of trusting intuition, she spent years building elaborate spreadsheets just to feel permission to want what she already wanted. This episode is for the person who isn't quite there yet.
Laura walks through the Trade Study Matrix, a tool she first learned in grad school and later applied to everything from job offers to cars to houses to sofas. She pulls up her actual "First World Problem" spreadsheet live, reads out her criteria (salary, vacation, career path... and yes, vacation ranked higher than job security), and walks you through how to score and weight your options so you can stop looping in your head and actually move.
The real gift of this episode isn't the spreadsheet. It's the insight Laura drops halfway through: sometimes the option that wins the scoring is the one that makes your stomach sink, and that reaction is the data you actually needed. This tool isn't meant to replace your intuition. It's a bridge to trusting it.
What You'll Hear
✔️Laura pulls up her real "First World Problem" job-hunting spreadsheet live and reads it out loud, priorities and all.
✔️The Trade Study Matrix, an engineering concept she learned in grad school, became her secret weapon for making every major life decision.
✔️Ranking vacation above job security on her criteria list tells you everything you need to know about where her head was at.
✔️When the spreadsheet winner makes you feel nothing, or worse, that feeling is actually the answer.
"Sometimes when I did this, I noticed that I didn't actually like the option that won, and that in itself is also data."
— Laura Dionisio
If this episode hit something in you, let's figure out together what your next aligned step actually looks like.
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Links and Resources
Pivot Point Podcast: https://www.leadintact.com/the-pivot-point-podcast
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You made the move, or maybe you're about to, or maybe you're still in it, showing up, performing, delivering, while something quiet in the background keeps saying, "This is not it." Either way, something has shifted, and you can't unknow it. Here's what nobody tells you. The landing strip is a little rocky once you come down from the high of accomplishment.
There are moments of real excitement, real clarity, like, "Yes, this is exactly where I'm supposed to be." And then night comes, and the anxiety rolls in, the what ifs, the what am I actually doing? Not because you made the wrong choice, by the way, but because you're standing in the space between who you were and who you're becoming.
Done pretending this is enough, done pushing through, done ignoring the thing that keeps pulling at you. That's exactly where this podcast lives. I'm Laura [00:01:00] Dionisio, founder of Lead Intact, and I've been exactly where you are. The corporate success that stopped feeling like success, the leap that was equal parts terrifying and necessary, the messy, non-linear process of building something that actually fits, and learning to trust yourself through all of it.
This is the pivot point. Real conversations about what's actually happening beneath the surface and what it takes to build a life that feels as good as it looks. Not just the wins, the attempts, too. Because I'm not here to romanticize the journey. I'm here to show you what it's really like. Let's get into it.
Welcome to the Pivot Point Podcast. I'm your host, Laura Dionisio. It is the first Wednesday of the month, at least when this is [00:02:00] being released, possibly not when you are now listening to this. But regardless, I mention that because just like every first Wednesday of the month, this episode is a little different from my other solo episodes in that this is a pivot tool episode specifically to give you more tactical information.
And today, I wanted to talk to you about decision making. Now, I wanna preface this by saying what I'm going to teach you is how I used to make decisions using spreadsheets, okay? This is a very spreadsheet, analytical way. Now, why am I doing this?
Because while I now know that trusting your intuition and following those intuitive nudges, even though it's so freaking uncomfortable sometimes, you're like, "Well, where is it taking me?"
Is actually the fastest way to get what you want. Uh, I've, I have a lot of evidence that shows intuition [00:03:00] over data in terms of being the source of your decision, so to speak. So even though I believe that, I am well aware that there are so many people who, like me, like the me of 10 years ago, even the me of, not gonna lie to you, like one year ago, just don't feel comfortable just yet trusting their intuition.
So if this is you, listener, then stay tuned. If this is not you, stay tuned anyway for the comedic relief because I'm gonna be sharing some stories on the different spreadsheets that I've made through the years. And, um, I do actually believe that, think of this as kind of like, like crutches or a Band-Aid solution, so to speak, if you're not yet at a point where you can fully trust your intuition.
So- When I was in grad school, I think I started in 2012, so like 14 years ago as of the time of this recording, I learned this one tool called [00:04:00] the Trade Study Matrix, and ever since I learned this, I was just like, "Oh my God, the application." Now, the idea behind a Trade Study Matrix is basically to present different options.
I don't know if this is just for the engineering space, but that's the space that I was in. So, like, as an example, we did a lot of this in the last job that I was in, my last corporate job, where I was in the electrical... electric vehicle space, specifically the advanced space. So we had to evaluate a lot of concepts.
You know, like if you had this kind of battery with this kind of cell, with this weight, with this type of material, like, what's the trade-off between doing that versus these other options? So that's the intention behi- behind the Trade Study Matrix. And so what it is is you, before you even think of your options, you come up with a set of criteria that's really important to you.
Please stay with me. I can, I can feel some of you falling asleep. If you're driving, just hit pause for a second, [00:05:00] stretch, maybe drink some water, shout. I don't know. That's what I used to do when I was falling asleep, okay? I promise this episode i- is not gonna be super dry. So you pick a set of criteria that's important.
In the space that I was in, it was things like performance, weight, speed for the car, et cetera. Okay?
Now, just to keep this relevant to you, when I was looking for a job, I'm gonna actually pull up one of my spreadsheets. I don't even know where the other ones are. This is ... This spreadsheet I called First World Problem.
I tell the story of why I called this First World Problem spreadsheet in an episode where I talk about the nervous system part two, so go to the show notes. I won't say it again. But basically, I created a Trade Study Matrix when I was looking for a job, and my criteria... Now, again, this is just what I did.
Doesn't have to... It's not the, quote-unquote, "right way" or best way. I put salary, number of hours worked, long-term opportunity, [00:06:00] job interest, career path, job security, vacation, relocation, and tuition reimbursement. Now, what you are then going to do is after listing the criteria You rank the level of importance.
This is just what I did. So on a scale of one to five, so for me, I had put as the highest level is long-term opportunity, job interest, career path, job security. Wait, not job security. Vacation. Vacation. You can see my priorities. God, I make myself laugh. I hope you're finding this funny.
So the reason why you do a level import- of importance is because then you do a waiting, W-E-I-G-H-T, not W-A-I-T, to indicate which of the criteria is more important than others.
Because, please, stay with me here, you're gonna use that waiting when you actually score each option against the criteria. So say I score... I think my scoring I did, again, from a scale of one to five to simplify it. So [00:07:00] say I scored a particular job for at a four for long-term opportunity, and the weight of that was two, so then I would...
The actual total score would then be five times two. I'm hearing myself, and I'm like, "This is overly complicated." Welcome to my mind, okay? You don't have to do it this way. I'm just explaining what it is, and then take what resonates and leave the rest.
Now, why did I use this so much? One, because I didn't trust my intuition, okay?
Let's put it this way. I didn't trust my intuition unless it was backed by data, okay? Again, I talk about this in another episode about the nervous system, et cetera. Go listen to that. And because I didn't trust my intuition without being backed up with data, and where am I gonna get data for two possible jobs?
Because it's not like, "Oh yeah, let me just work for five hours in this job and that job, and let me compare." I manufacture data because in my mind, [00:08:00] that's how I can actually believe that what I want makes sense. Do you see why I now say that really in order to make quick decisions, rely more on your intuition over data?
Because it takes time to set this shit up. Okay.
So anyway, but here's why I think it is worthwhile to do at least part of the process. Maybe you don't have to do it as complicated as I did, but here's what I really loved about it. It really made me think about what was important in that decision. I even did this for cars.
I did this for cars, for jobs, for which house I wanted. It really made me think about what am I actually looking for in these things. So with the house, I think it was something like... Actually, let me open it. I put resale value, closet space , patio, neighborhood, central air, general feel. It really made me think about, like, what [00:09:00] do I actually care about this?
And then because of the weighting thing, it made me... Or even just, like, the prioritizing what's the most important, it made me think about what's more important than others. Because here's what I notice when I work with clients, okay? And this is what I noticed about myself before I started using the spreadsheet, is I would actually list out the things that were important to me, but because I didn't take the time to understand, like, which criteria was actually the most important, what would happen is...
Okay, I'll give you an example of buying a sofa. The most important thing to me at the time was having an L-shaped sofa, but sometimes I'll talk to someone and they'll be like, "Oh, but you need to get leather." And then someone will be like, "Don't get leather. If you're gonna get leather, get the suede kind."
And then somebody else will be like, "No, get cloth, man. That shit ain't worth it." And meanwhile, the material wasn't even on my list of the criteria, but because I didn't take the time to understand what was the most important, I would get sometimes swayed by other people's opinions because they were so impassioned about it that I'm like, [00:10:00] "Should I care?"
And so this is why even though I no longer make decisions this way, I think it's a good gateway to trusting your intuition, because you are now training your mind to get even clearer on what you're looking for. So that's why that's important.
The other reason why I liked doing this spreadsheet way is because, I don't know if you can relate to this, but for me, before I did the spreadsheet thing, I would just have, like, a looping conversation.
Should I go option A? Should I do c- option B? Should I do A? B. What about C? And when I gave myself the task of actually sitting down and writing it in a spreadsheet and then assessing it, analyzing it like I would at my job, it forced me to sit down and actually do it, think through it. And it was actually faster for me to do the spreadsheet than to [00:11:00] not do anything at all.
This is, again, before I trusted my intuition. Now the intuition i- is much faster 'cause I'm just like, "Don't need data. Yep, that feels right. I'm doing it." But at the time, like, this actually helped me lessen the mind loop. Notice I said lessen, because guess what happened after I did the spreadsheet? I would have the scoring.
It would have a clear number on which one was the winner But then my mind would be like, "Is that right? Did I do the right scoring? Maybe I should score this one higher," et cetera, et cetera. So all this to say that I'm offering this as a tool so that you can at least start to get clearer about what is important about the choice that you're making, like to list out the criteria, and also which of the criteria is the most important thing to you.
So to recap, how do you do a trade study matrix? First, first of all, like what are you trying to make a decision on? Is it which job? Is it should I [00:12:00] leave my job? Is it what business idea do I wanna do? So get clear on like what choice you're trying to make, okay? And then once you have that clarity of like what choice you wanna make, then think about what's the criteria that matters to you.
Don't think about... Don't Google this shit, okay? I mean, you can Google it to, to assess like, oh yeah, that, I agree with that. But don't use somebody else's idea of what's important in lieu of your own. This is the power of what this did for me, actually. It really got me to reflect back on what's important to me.
So let's say that for you it's business idea, okay? You are looking to pivot 'cause you're just like, "Whatever I'm doing now," whether you're in corporate or you are look- you're, I don't know, you've outgrown your business and you're like, "Now what?" Okay, so the choice you're making is how do I pivot, or where should I pivot?
A criteria might be does it use my expertise? Or it might be, [00:13:00] does it allow me to stay home because I just had a baby and I, I would rather be home, so like something that I can serve my clients remotely? Or maybe actually it's location. Maybe you're like, "No, I actually wanna get out of the fucking house," right?
So just get clear about what is actually important in this decision without, hear me now, without trying to fit one of the options that you have into the criteria. Does that make sense? So instead of being like, "Is it important for me to have a remote job? Oh, I don't know, but that thing, that job that Sarah told me about, that's hybrid.
Maybe it's not that important." No. Okay? You just let go of all the options for now. What is actually important when it comes to your, this particular choice that you need to make? Agnostic, okay? It's an agnostic criteria, not thinking about the options that you have. And then if you want to Look through what you put in your criteria and assess, like, which is actually the most [00:14:00] important.
You can actually even just stop there, but if you wanna be me and be extra and overly complicated, what you do next is you have a spreadsheet, so you write in the rows what the criterias are, is... Whatever the proper grammatical way to say that. And then in the columns, you write the choices, so maybe it's business idea A, business idea B, et cetera.
And then you score each of the option based on that criteria from one to five. This is just my suggestion. You can do one to 10. It's up to you, but just for simplicity's sake, let's say that. And then you add it all up. That's your score. Now, if you wanna be like me, like I said, extra, and you wanna incorporate basically the weighting of it, meaning you wanna incorporate the fact that certain criterion...
Did you know, by the way, that that is the singular of criteria? I didn't know until I learned about trade study matrix. Anyway, so if you want to incorporate [00:15:00] the ratings of each criterion, then after you score each criterion based on the option, you will multiply that raw score with the weighting factor of that criterion, and then you total it up, and that's your score.
You're gonna end up with a score.
Now, is this subject- subjective? Yes. Yes. But for me at least, it helped me think through what was actually important. And sometimes, by the way, like, when I did this, I noticed that I didn't actually like the option that won, and that in itself is also data because that will tell you, oh, you actually want the other thing.
So again, this is a crutch, so to speak. If you have listened to me for a while of- or if you're just, like, interested in working with me, you will know that I will say intuition first, okay? Having said that, if you're not quite there [00:16:00] yet, this is a helpful m- progression to get there. Okay.
I hope that was helpful.
I feel like I may have confused some of you. If you have any questions, if you're like, "You know what? I actually wanna learn more about maybe not exactly this trade study matrix way of making decisions, but just decisions making in general," that's my jam, y'all. Book a free 20-minute call with me at www.leadintact.com/claritycall, and I would love to work with you.
And with that, see you next time.
If this episode hit something in you, good. That's not an accident. The discomfort you're feeling isn't a sign that something's wrong with you. It's a sign that you're done. Done living in the eh, done waiting for it to magically feel better, done being really good at a life that doesn't actually fit you anymore.[00:17:00]
And if good enough stopped being good enough a long time ago, that's exactly who I work with. I'm Laura DiNisio. I'm a coach for high achievers who are done pretending that checking the boxes is enough and are ready to do something about it. If that's you, let's talk. Book a free clarity call at leadandtact.com/booking.
We'll figure out together what's actually going on and what your next aligned step looks like. And if you're not quite there yet, that's okay too. Subscribe so you don't miss the next episode. Share this with a friend who needs to hear it. You probably already know exactly who that is. And with that, I'll see you next time