Pebblestorm

Becoming more confident and decisive can make your life a lot easier, yet a lot of people still struggle with making choices (I know I have!)  We put them off until ‘later’ or ‘someday’ and we all know that means, almost, probably never.

Do I change jobs or not?  Do I start a company or not?  If so, when?  Which name do I choose?  Do I choose something NOW that I don’t love, or do I wait until a better name finds me?  Do I charge for my first event?  How much?  Do I say no to a client or partner I’m not excited about?  Do I have a live event, a teleconference or webinar?  Etc, etc, etc…

Here is the first rule of thumb (out of seven) I have in my “Decisions Determine Destiny” cheatsheet:

1. Success Requires Decisions: You will not be successful (wealthy, fulfilled, free) unless you can make decisions.

Decision-making is an ESSENTIAL life and business skill that you can develop, like learning to play a sport.  By their very nature, you will never have perfect, risk-free clarity with important decisions.  At some point you must “leap, and the net will appear”.

What process do you need to go through in order to make a decision and be at peace with it?   Some things that can help: meditation, advice, encouragement, physical activity, a deadline, incentives, reflection on how you made supportive decisions in the past, do something with a buddy.

Results and clarity come AFTER a decision is made, not before.  A “Maybe state of mind” is not a decision, and will just create anxiety and uncertainty.  “Yes” and “No” are decisions that allow you to move forward one way or the other.

You can download the 2-page cheat sheet below.

Decisions Allow Movement & Flow

Other people get stopped by thinking a decision has to be a BIG decision.  Don’t get me wrong, sometimes decisions are big, but most of the time, we add more drama than need be.  Also, you can always break what seems to be a big decision down to smaller ones (in business or in life).

Take my wedding for example.  There were tons of decisions for me and my wife to make and tons to plan, people to invite, contracts to sign, design, flowers, photography, dress, you name it, but we planned the whole wedding in 2 weeks!  Being decisive let it flow together.

And I heard from more than one guest that the wedding seemed as if we had been planning for months.  Whether you take 2 years or 2 weeks, in the end, a decision is almost always the same you would have made in the first place (if you’re practiced at listening to your gut.)

Don’t let yourself get overwhelmed with decisions.  If you need to, break a big one down into smaller ones.  Or make a list of decisions you want to make, then start at the top.  It’s better to make one and “get it wrong”, yet move forward, than remain stuck and clogged.  Even if you make a decision and then are unhappy with it later, at least you tried something and learned from it.

Another way to help you make a decision is to stop thinking about yourself.  Think about what your wife, husband, friend, brother, sister, mom or dad would do if they were in your shoes; what would you want them to do?

It’s funny how we’ll leap for someone else, but more than often… not for ourselves.

So, now it’s your turn.  What is a decision you want to make, that’s bugging you?  Choose yes or no, left or right, start or stop.  And remember… sometimes saying no is just as powerful as saying yes.

Download The Decisions Cheat Sheet

To help you with making decisions, I created this tool:
Download My Decision-Making Cheatsheet Here

It’s important to be comfortable at making decisions.  Decisions determine destiny.

And by making them and more of them and exercising your decision-making muscle, you’ll make it stronger and build your confidence!