Today I’m up at the Inspired Women Event in London and one of the speakers is talking about decisions; how important they are for our business and how we often delay making them, even without realising we’re doing it.
Making speedy decisions will have a massive impact on your results.
Think about a successful person you know about but don’t know well. So Richard Branson would be mine. Now, imagine how they make decisions. Generally, they are going to be making decisions FAST! And here’s the thing, sometimes it doesn’t matter if you make the WRONG decision – as long as you make A decision, there will be action, action brings results and results mean feedback. If you have made the wrong decision then at least you know and can take more action to put it right. No decision means no action, no results, no feedback. Nothing, Nada, Nil Zilch!
Why We Delay Making Decisions
Are you putting off making a decision because when it’s done you will have to start doing the trickier stuff in your business like selling and delivering products and services?
Let’s consider how we are making a decision now.
Are you making decisions made based on fear? Are you making decisions based on loads and loads of analysis? Are you making decisions based on your gut instinct or your intuition? Which do you think is the most powerful?
The trouble is that when we don’t trust ourselves, how we are running our business, our lives, or our relationship, then it can become tricky to trust our instincts.
Trusting yourself and your instincts is a much bigger issue and will take a while to drill down into so what can you do if you need to start making decisions right now if you’re going to move forward? I suggest the following…
Decision Making Template
- Put a time limit on making your decision and stick to it.
- Ask yourself (and write down the answers in a table) the following questions…
What will happen if I do?
What will happen if I don’t?
Won’t won’t Happen if I do?
What won’t happen if I Don’t
You should now have a little grid of answers, a structure, to work from. It’s almost like a mini risk assessment. If you need to, then bring in a second or third party, but remember you have your deadline and stick to it.