Decisions Suck, But They Don't Have To
Episode 148: Show Notes
‘Tis the season! And we’re heading into good, stressful, happy seasons in business and in life. This is a busy time where we are forced to make many decisions. Are you doing the whole never-making-a-decision thing? Are you second-guessing every move and letting the process of making a decision stress you out so much that you don’t make a decision about anything, at all? If this sounds like you, then we want you to use this episode as a little fairy godmother on your shoulder to help you decide.
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Today we are talking about making decisions and how best to make them. There are so many decisions we have to make every day. Decisions about how many blog posts you should have queued up, how much material you should order or where you should have something shipped to. It can become overwhelming, but we want you to know that there really is a yes or a no to all these questions. All you have to do, first and foremost, is remind yourself that you are the boss and no one is as equipped as you are to decide! Take a listen and take action!
How Much Time Should You Be Spending On Making A Decision?
Making a decision can depend a lot on what type of decision you are making. For some decisions, you might need 24 hours to sit on it then you might need to cut it off. Some of them you might need 10 seconds and then you need to move on because it is a giant waste of your time to continue talking about it. A lot of stories we hear from our students are about how exhausting it is when they let themselves get caught up in the fear and weight of decision making. We put so much weight on one decision because we think the failure of that decision is going to be to the detriment of our business. When in the greater scheme of things, it doesn’t really matter.
Your Business Is Different. So Don’t Be Afraid To Do Things Differently
A lot of the times our students ask us very specific questions about decisions we have made in our own business. “How many emails did you send?”, “How many webinars did you have?” But for us, there is no perfect formula and every launch or project is different. Your business is different too and although you can ask any guru (or Google) for the perfect solution, know it’s just one solution and it’s not necessarily the right one for you. You can do things differently because your business is going to be at a different place and time in its growth. Even if you are following the template to someone else’s success, it may not necessarily work for you. So sometimes, it’s okay to take a step back and say, “Okay, I’m going to make my own plan. This is what it is and these are the steps I can take to implement it.”
Why You Cannot Be Paralyzed By Decisions Any Longer
When you feel paralyzed by your decisions, take a minute to remember you are the boss! And that is the fun part. You don’t have to wait for anyone’s answer. You get to choose and determine how many emails to send out and how many orders to place. And guess what? You are going to be wrong sometimes. Welcome to the club! You don’t have to be right all the time. A lot of the time, our students are waiting for us to give them the answer because they’re so afraid of doing something wrong. But remember, at the end of the day, no one knows your business as well as you do and that’s an empowering position to be in. Somebody else can recommend what you should do all day long, but they don’t know the inner-workings of your business as well as you do. They don’t know how much time and energy you have right now. You are the boss and the fun part is that you get to try a bunch of shit and just see if it works. And that is really the mentality we used to grow our own business. Being productive is about having the ability to make a decision and go with it. Right or wrong. Success or failure.
Once You Have Made Your Decision It’s Time To Act!
Once you have made your decision, you need to stop and think, “What are the steps I need to apply to implement my decision?” A lot of people rely on so many other people to walk them through that decision. So you need to ask yourself, “Am I relying on too many people to hold my hand?” Because a lot of the time, those decisions don’t need to be chatted about. Are you wasting more people’s time than you need to? If a decision is keeping you up at night, make a pro’s and con’s list. Ask yourself, “What is the worst thing that can happen if I do X, Y or Z?” Don’t let the fact that you never made a decision be the reason you didn’t sell a hundred more of a product. If things don’t go as planned, so what? Then you have data.
You Can’t Worry About How People Might React To The Decisions You Make
Often people get overly-concerned about how people might react to the decisions they make. But most of the time, people are fine with the decisions if you just explain to them why the decision was made. And if someone reacts extremely negatively, you can’t let that one person’s reaction to your decision dictate your business. You have to learn not take it personally and have conviction in your decision. It’s impossible to please everyone and trying to is exhausting. Instead, choose to surround yourself with people who support you no matter the decision you make. We want you to own your boss-ness and know you are the most capable person in your business to make any decision. So trust yourself and just make the damn decision! You’ve got this.
Quote This
You are the boss and the fun part is that you get to try a bunch of shit and just see if it works!
Highlights
Find out how much time you should be spending on making a decision in your business. [0:04:22.1]
Understanding why your business is different and why you shouldn’t be afraid to do things differently. [0:07:00.1]
Why you cannot be paralyzed by decisions any longer. [0:08:10.1]
Once you have made your decision, it’s time to act! [0:16:22.1]
You can’t worry about how people might react to the decisions you make. [0:22:50.1]
ON TODAY’S SHOW
Abagail & Emylee
The Strategy Hour Podcast
We help overwhelmed and creative entrepreneurs break down their Oprah-sized dreams to create a functioning command center to tame the chaos of their business. Basically, we think you’re totally bomb diggity, we’re about to uplevel the shiz out of your business.
KEY TOPICS
Decision making, Acting on decisions, Paralyzing decisions, Making business decisions, How to make decisions
