On decisiveness
Growing up I was always taught by parents and teachers to take time to carefully and thoroughly consider important decisions. And as an adult, I’m constantly tempted to “sleep on” a decision. People put stock in decisions that have been considered for a long amount of time.
Yet the most successful people I’ve come across make very quick, snap decisions on important issues. Here’s why I think that’s a good idea and why I’ve been doing it as much as I can myself, to great success:
- I firmly believe that ability plays a major role in success—you either have it or you don’t. If you have a strong business instinct, you can make wise gut decisions. Time won’t change the nature of such decisions, which are founded in deep-rooted beliefs and principals.
- Often, the risk undertaken by making a less-than-completely-informed decision today is an acceptable trade-off for the opportunity benefit (the opposite of opportunity cost?) gained.
- In my experience, every day spent postponing a decision increases the chance that it will never be made at all.
- Unmade decisions are like annoying songs that you can’t get out of your head, distracting you from the important stuff you should be thinking about.
What decision are you putting off? Make the call now and move on.