We are faced on a daily basis with decisions and choices in our business. Sometimes the concern of making the wrong decision stops us from effective action.
First of all no decision is still a decision – and there are direct costs of not making a decision and not taking action.
People don’t make decisions (like identifying and focusing on a target audience) because of a fear of loss, or a fear of missing something (i.e. fear of picking the wrong target audience).
The reality is that the fear of loss is actually costing you what you are afraid of losing!
For example – you are missing the most important opportunities in your business if you have not identified who your best fit customers are.
There are three parts to making decisions and moving forward:
1. Decide on the direction – in our example choosing a target audience to focus on.
2. Take action based on your decision
3. Re-evaluate based on feedback and results as you take action.
TIP: Want to accelerate your results? When something crosses your desk – DO it, DELEGATE it or DUMP it.
Try to handle it only once. You get bogged down when you collect a pile of things to think about or get back to.
How many “piles” do you have in your office and in your life?
This is the KEY – The Secret. You must make a decision and then take action, but equally important is to re-evaluate along the way.
Peter Drucker is considered one of the most important Management Consultants in the last 100 years, with over 30 books published.
Peter Drucker said “You make the best decisions based on what you know at the time – which is exactly as it should be. The key is to re-evaluate based on what you learn going forward”.
And one of my favourite Peter Drucker questions is “Knowing what you know NOW, would you make the same decision?”. If the answer is NO – change.
TIP: You are going to make mistakes if you want to grow. In fact if you set out to accomplish something you have never done before (like increase the revenue and profit of your company) you do not know what you need to know (yet) to reach your goals. You learn what you need to know as you progress toward your goals.
PAY ATTENTION TO WHAT DOES NOT WORK! This is your school – what does not work is telling you what you need to know and deal with to reach your objectives.
Click here to watch the “How to End the Struggle” Video for a visual model that supports Making Effective Decisions.
What decisions are you putting off that may be holding you back?
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