Have you ever agonized over the decision-making process? Did you wait too long to make the decision, and then have things not quite work out the way you wanted them to? There is nothing worse than regretting a decision you didn’t end up making. Yet, I see this happen all the time with my business coaching clients. They wait to decide, and the opportunity is gone.
I don’t want this to happen to you, so I’m sharing my decision-making process in this post.
Step One: Gather Information
Before you make any decision, you need to gather all the valuable information. For example, when it came to choosing a seat on my Southwest flight – I needed to know whether the flight was full or not. This bit of information would allow me to decide whether to take a seat where I might be stuck in the middle — or take a seat on the aisle. The best strategy depended on how many people would eventually get on the plane. So, I asked the stewardess — she said the plane would be pretty full. In your business, this fact-finding stage can take weeks, days, or just minutes. The key here is to gather the information and then move on to the next step.
Step Two: Interpret the Facts
Now that you have the facts you need – it is time to interpret them so you can make your decision. In the case of the airline seat, the interpretation was straightforward – I couldn’t count on having a seat next to me empty – so I chose my seat accordingly. The pitfall with business decisions is that sometimes we let our decision making be clouded by doubt and fear. Don’t let those emotions in. Make your decision based on the facts as you see them.
Step Three: Look at the Opportunity/Options and Decide.
You’ve looked at the options – now it is time to stretch your imagination and see what choices you have. Now is the time to make a decision. If you’ve done steps 1 and 2 – you should know the right choice. Make it and start implementing it. Don't second guess yourself.
Want to learn more about how to quickly and easily make decisions so that you can get unstuck in your business (and your life).
Click here to go straight to the recording of the webinar I taught on the topic of decision making.
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