It never ceases to amaze me how difficult it is for folks to make a decision. Growing up I never thought of decision making as being all that difficult but I'm blown away by the number of people I've encountered who can't decide, ANY THING!
Ok, let’s level set… what do I mean by “decision”? You take whatever available facts you have and choose a course of action. Simple enough. Now, that doesn't mean, later on down the road, in hind sight, that the decision you made was necessarily the best. Circumstances may reveal that the original decision may have been less than optimal. Hey, we can all play Monday morning quarterback. But you need to understand that the decision was probably the best decision at that time. As long as you're comfortable with that fact then you have nothing to worry about. Let the chips fall where they may.
I think the real problem with decision making is that in our culture we reward those that blame rather than praise those that take the risk to lead. Turn on the TV and I can guarantee you there will be a news bite of one politician blaming another for a choice that was made. Very few politicians will stand up for a particular cause, but they are more than happy to point out the failures of someone else’s. I bet all of you can find similar examples in your own professional or personal lives.
Too many people can’t help but second-guess themselves and others. Some folks actually take second-guessing to a whole new art form. It's a destructive habit. Now I know I'm not the smartest guy in the world. Yes, I can hear the collective voices of hundreds of people saying "DUHHH!" But I do think I have a fair amount of common sense and given enough of the pertinent facts, I feel I can make a pretty sound decision. I think the difference between me and the second-guessers is that I’m not going to waste a lot of energy on “what if’s”. It’s too exhausting. I think it really boils down to the fact that many people are afraid of making the wrong choice. They’re afraid they’ll look stupid in front of others, or they’ll be looked upon as a failure. I’d rather be deemed a failure for my choices then to live in fear of making any.
Every decision has a potential benefit and risk. You need to ask yourself one, simple question, “Can I live with the possible outcome of this decision, good or bad?” If your answer is “yes” then make the decision and move on. Action closed. Enough said. I have much more respect for the average Joe who’s willing to step up and make the tough choice, and possibly fail, than for the so called “intellectual giant” whose verbose vocabulary is inversely proportionate to his ability to make a decision.
It takes some courage and confidence in oneself to make decisions, especially ones where little information is available. It disappoints me that the higher up the corporate food chain you go, the fewer folks you find that are willing to make the tough choices. I can't tell you how many times I've witnessed senior managers and executives literally turn their backs on an issue because they lacked, from my perspective, the intestinal fortitude to make a decision. I suspect that seven figure income had something to do with it.
So do us all a favor and just make a decision and move on. As you move down the road, make another decision and move on from there. That’s what life is all about. There is no one path in life but many paths. Just choose. Don’t be afraid. Enjoy the path you’re on and look forward to that next fork in the road. Don’t fret on your previous decisions. They are over and done. Wouldn’t you rather look ahead to the next opportunity instead of looking back and wondering “what if”? Personally, I’ve lived my life, no sense in reliving it by second-guessing my choices. It certainly won’t change anything. The only thing I can change is the path I’m on, but I have to decide to do that.
If none of what I said makes any sense, then please heed these simple words of wisdom….
"Shit or get off the pot!"
