Is Indecision Killing Your Brand?

Do you ever feel like you are spinning your wheels? If you are an entrepreneur my guess is you have felt that way more than once in your business. You may feel like you are doing your best, but you keep bumping up against obstacles. More often than not, however, what seem like obstacles are really just decisions you haven’t made yet.

Unfortunately, failing to make good, swift decisions in your business can have serious implications. Clients are lost, money is wasted and precious, precious time is squandered. As author of Rich Dad Poor Dad Robert Kiyosaki says so clearly, “The only difference between a rich person and a poor person is how they use their time.” If you are spending your time hemming and hawing about what decisions to make, you are not spending your time accumulating wealth.

A common mistake in decision-making is always trying to make the “best” decision. In fact,constantly trying to make the perfect choice can be detrimental to your goals. Instead of moving forward, you go around in circles wasting time you could use to actually implement a strategy. While you are toiling away trying to craft the perfect plan, the guy who went ahead and launched his "good enough" plan just signed 3 new clients.  

To help break the loop of indecision and get you unstuck, here are some tips:

1. Do your research. Yes, this takes more time up front, but saves you critical time in the crunch zone. When was the last time you made a good decision when you were stressed or under pressure? Look at the holes or needs in your business and research the possible solutions now. Then when you have to make a decision, you will have quality options from which to choose.

2. Plan ahead. This is slightly different from doing research. It’s more logistical and strategic. If I had planned my workouts ahead of time, I would have known which days I could go for a run outside and which days were my push days at the gym. Likewise, in your business, you can plan ahead. If you think you want to attend some live events, look at your calendar for the year and plug in the dates ahead of time.

3. Give yourself follow-through rules. Once you head in the direction of a specific decision, stick to it unless doing so would be harmful. I now have a rule if I go out my front door, I’m going outside for a run. If I go out the garage or get in my car, I am going to the gym no matter what. There is no turning back.

4. Lean into the tension of your desire. We often stay stuck because the pain of making the wrong decision outweighs the pain of making no decision. However, there is another pain which is the pain of not getting what you want. When you are struggling to choose, remember every minute you waste in indecision is delaying your dreams. When you put yourself in touch with the tension between where you are now and where you want to be, making decisions becomes much more urgent.

5. Remember perfect is the enemy of good enough. As I said before, perfectionism can squash your success by keeping you stuck. Your decisions do not all have to be home runs. Maybe you hired the “good enough” web designer and your website still needs tweaking, at least your site is up and you can more on. Maybe the live event you choose wasn’t ideal, at least you learned some new things and made new connections. Now you have more information about what you will do differently next time.

The most important thing about decisions is to make them. Give yourself a fighting chance at success by doing the work you need to do ahead of time to mitigate big mistakes, then plunge in. Even if you move in slightly the wrong direction, at least you are off the couch and on your way. Remember, your journey to success doesn’t begin until you book the flight!