On decisiveness

thinking-time

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:

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. In my experience, every day spent postponing a decision increases the chance that it will never be made at all.
  4. 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.

Posted by Eoghan McCabe at 5:02 pm on 27 April, 2010.

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13 Comments

A sure-fire way to never fail is to never make a decision. It’s also a pretty certain way of never succeeding :D

Point three really nails it for me though. The longer you leave a decision, it feels like there’s less and less urgency to actually decide, until the horrible realisation that the opportunity is effectively lost.

Posted by Peter McKenna at 5:27 pm on 27 April, 2010.

Hey, have you guys thought about doing a Contrast self-help book?

You could call it: “Contrasting The Road To Success & So Can You!”

Seriously, I think you could even be better than these guys: http://www.lifelastingsuccess.com/

I believe in you!

Posted by Eamon Leonard at 5:35 pm on 27 April, 2010.

PS: Hehe.

Posted by Eamon Leonard at 5:36 pm on 27 April, 2010.

“Fail early, fail often”

http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2006/05/fail-early-fail-often.html

Posted by Seth Walker at 5:46 pm on 27 April, 2010.

100% agreed, make your decision, move on and you can tweak later if the need arises.

In my (limited) experience, most of the stuff you need to make snap decisions on are tiny in comparison to the bigger project, and sometimes it really doesn’t even matter what you decide as long as you **decide something**.

Posted by Robert at 6:12 pm on 27 April, 2010.

Snap decisions? Good for traders, bad for normal people.

Posted by Jim at 9:48 pm on 27 April, 2010.

Hi Jim,

Why bad for “normal people”?

Eoghan

Posted by Eoghan McCabe at 10:37 pm on 27 April, 2010.

Howdy Eoghan,

My brain works slightly differently but I’ve been in alot of situations where moving away from the problem gives you perspective.

Maybe that other choice wasn’t ridiculous or maybe trusting your decision more. I think any major decision should at least be given a little time to settle, changing the background colour can be an instant one.

This is particularly important when you’ve been shouting at your co-founder for 2 hours straight.

Posted by Jim at 11:00 pm on 27 April, 2010.

Interesting post - and have you read ‘Blink’ by Malcom Gladwell? it’s in a similar vein, about how in the two second blink of an eye, our mind recognises, thinks, and draws conclusions about people, things and situation.
I agree with both you and Peter about point three - though I never realised it before - but you are right, the longer you put off deciding, the less chance the decision is made, and the opportunity is now lost. Really it’s a choosing not to make the decision.

Posted by Maria Gray at 12:04 am on 28 April, 2010.

I don’t know why, but I hate making decisions. Increasingly, I find myself stalling to the point that I’ve backed myself into a corner, waiting until only one option is feasible. I wonder how much longer I can keep it up before it fails spectacularly on me…

Posted by Aideen at 12:31 pm on 29 April, 2010.

Great advice! I’ll try putting it to practice!

Posted by Kelli Annison at 10:03 pm on 4 May, 2010.

I thoroughly agree. You can learn to listen to your gut. There are always times that you need to reflect before making a decision to ensure you’re understanding what your gut is saying but usually you end up at the same conclusion. The gut decides within seconds but it can take the brain a lot longer to work it out. If you learn to listen to those gut feelings, you’re on a road to make the correct decisions much quicker.

A good book on the subject is Malcolm Gladwell’s Blink. http://www.gladwell.com/blink/

Worth a read.

Posted by David Behan at 2:32 am on 31 July, 2010.

Some people think that by leaving a decision until later, they can wait it out until circumstances change and they are no longer forced to make a choice. But that in itself is “deciding not to make a decision”. Obvious hesistation can also signal a lack of confidence which is rarely a good sign in business or personal dealings.

Posted by Marcus Aurelius at 1:09 pm on 18 August, 2010.

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