Successful people make decisions quickly, and change them slowly. Yet, most of us take forever deliberating, procrastinating, pondering, wondering, worrying about a decision to be made – and never get to making it! How much wasted time and worry is that??
So, what about choosing a handier strategy for decisions: deciding to make them quickly going forward? The simplest way is by using Richard Branson’s bullet proof decision tree: 1) what’s the worst thing that can happen? 2) can I handle that?
For some of you, that is scarily simple – and if you want, we can make it more complex and add a few steps. But what about trying it this coming week, using these two questions and having fun making quick decisions? Start with little decisions to get you going, and enjoy ramping it up.
OK, now for those of you, who simply can’t deal with something that simple – here is a brain twister to keep you entertained, while making up your mind:
- “What will happen if I do this?”
- “What won’t happen if I do this?”
- “What will happen if I don’t do this?”
- “What won’t happen if I don’t do this?”
You’ll be amazed at the answers you get back from yourself: often, it becomes so clear, that you’re simply afraid of making (the wrong) decision. Not trusting yourself to make a (quick) decision. And when you put it on display through the questioning, you know what you really want to do. Most often, you realise you MUST take action, right now – you’re done with same old same old.
For those who have made it into a full procrastination strategy: when we procrastinate on something, it means we’ll never do it. Full stop. That’s it. When a task/decision comes up, you immediately need to make up your mind: A) will I do it? B) should someone else do it? C) will I never do it? There are no other options. And if it’s “I will do it”, you either do it straight away or immediately put in your calendar, when you will do it. That’s commitment. And that’s the only way. Over time, it will boost your self-esteem, because you start making your mind up quickly – and trust yourself doing, what you say you will do. And say no straight away to what you won’t.
How much time will you save yourself and others this coming week? The coming month? Year? Decade? Are you ready to join me in this campaign of quick, empowered decision-making? For this question, there are only two options, yes or no.