I was leaving a voicemail the other day, for the head of a non-profit. They’re considering a proposal from us, and I gave my contact there a ring to check in.
You know how sometimes when you’re leaving a message, and you get surprised by what comes out of your mouth? Well, it happened to me, and though I don’t remember exactly what I said, it was something along the lines of:
“I want to help you make a confident decision, and whether it’s ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ doesn’t matter to me.”
Now, in one small sense, that was a lie.
I’ve spent time in meetings with this non-profit, talking about their current situation and their goals for the future. I’ve talked about them with Lani, and started thinking far enough down the strategy road to give them a proposal that’ll work within the resources they have. I like the people, I like the mission, and most importantly, I believe in them.
So if they say ‘No,’ it will matter to me. It’ll be a bummer, to say the least.
But in a larger sense, it was brazenly honest. It’s not the “Yes” or “No” that matters as much as the decision. The act of saying “Yes” or “No.”
How often do we go through our lives and businesses without making decisions? Avoiding decisions? Letting things exist at the status quo, even when the status quo is no good and getting worse?
Sometimes the act of deciding on a change seems more scary than not deciding. What if you make the wrong decision? (Which assumes there’s such a thing as a “right” or “wrong” decision, but that’s a whole different can of worms.) I’ve had that wrong decision feeling a lot in these, my first few years of entrepreneurship. With the new year starting, I’ve had a occasion to think back on this in the last 24 hours. Also, my in-laws unexpectedly took the kids overnight, so Lani and I had peace and quiet in the house.
Turns out – and I’m sorry to say I had to learn this the hard way, but maybe that was the only way I could learn it – the only “wrong” decision has been indecision.
Meanwhile, if you want to make the “right” decisions, then one of the best ways you can is to make more of them. The more you make, and the more you think about how you make them, the better you’re going to get at making them faster, more easily, and more confidently.
That’s one thing I’m learning right now, and one of the things I’m going to focus on is making decisions – faster, stronger, better.
How about you? What’s your take on decision making?
