How to Be More Decisive in Your Business
Today I'd like to talk to you about how to be more decisive in your business. I speak to thousands of entrepreneurs each year and I have been for 12 years now. Every time I get together with a group of successful entrepreneurs, I see they're people who take decisive action. Successful people take decisive action.
But I also meet entrepreneurs who like to over-think and they might make a decision but then they change their mind. There's this waffling effect. I meet people who have a lot of self doubt. They tend to listen to that inner critic a lot.
I would like for you to be successful. This is why I do what I do. Part of that is to be more decisive in your business because the longer you take to make a decision, the longer you delay the results that you are looking for.
Here are my six steps that I'd like to share with you about how I am more decisive in my business each year.
1. Get all the facts. This sounds simple but when you have this mapped out as a formula, it really helps. Here's what I often say to my clients, "So tell me, you have this decision that needs to be made. What's going on? Tell me all the facts."
A lot of times they don't have all the facts. Without them, you are making a non-informed decision. Non-informed decisions are bad decisions. So get all the facts.
2. Make a pros and cons list. You've heard this before but I actually find that some of the biggest decisions I've had to make in my life were made much more easily when I had a pros list and a cons list; pros of doing it, pros of not doing it. Cons of doing it, cons of not doing it.
Then I can actually see just by the number of things on the list, "Wow, there are so many pros to doing this and so very few cons to doing it." Sometimes that will sway my decision very, very quickly. So do that.
If you'll allow me to get a little spiritual on you for a second (because you know we can be spiritual in business too), often the pros of doing something come from you being pulled into your future. Your soul is being called to do something. That's why your list may contain so many positive things.
If you look at the cons list, usually the cons are based on fears - fear of losing money, fear of failure, fear of success, fear of overwhelm, fear of criticism, and the list goes on.
You're being pulled into future if spirit is asking you to do the next right thing. Fear is the opposite. It's your ego pulling your back. I only make decisions based on faith, not fear.
3. Trust your intuition. You know that feeling inside that says, "Oh, I really should be doing that," and then you try to talk yourself out of it? I always say to trust your intuition. I'm going to get spiritual on you again, but your intuition comes from Source. It comes from the Universe. It comes from God, or whatever you may call it. It's like your red phone direct to the big guys upstairs.
When you listen to your intuition it's like getting advice straight from Source. Your intuition is a softer, kinder voice and it's usually quieter than the fear voice of the ego. So if there's a faint voice that says, "Do it," then that's usually Source rather than, "Oh my God! Don't do this! You might lose money. You might fail." That is not your intuition. So, trust your intuition.
4. Ignore your fears. I have to be very careful when I talk about that. There are some good fears like, "Don't jump off that bridge." But there are also the fears that are stopping you from doing the next best thing for your business - whether they've come from your upbringing, or from other people's irrational fears and a slew of other things that we talk about in my mindset workshops but the remember idea from the pros and cons list: Make decisions based on faith.
5. Look at your return on investment. If you know that this is something that's going to get you the result that you want in your business, then be decisive and look at the return on investment. Whenever I am investing in my own business, I look at, "Am I going to get my money back on this?" "Yes." "Am I going to get two times, four times, ten times my investment if I do everything that it says?" If the answer is yes, I say yes and I don't turn back. I want the same thing for you.
6. Flip a coin. Finally, if you just cannot make a decision but you would be okay with either way, than just flip a coin. I know it sounds silly but you've got to be okay with what comes up. The key is to take decisive action and to do the things that you know are going to move you to the next level.
But I also meet entrepreneurs who like to over-think and they might make a decision but then they change their mind. There's this waffling effect. I meet people who have a lot of self doubt. They tend to listen to that inner critic a lot.
I would like for you to be successful. This is why I do what I do. Part of that is to be more decisive in your business because the longer you take to make a decision, the longer you delay the results that you are looking for.
Here are my six steps that I'd like to share with you about how I am more decisive in my business each year.
1. Get all the facts. This sounds simple but when you have this mapped out as a formula, it really helps. Here's what I often say to my clients, "So tell me, you have this decision that needs to be made. What's going on? Tell me all the facts."
A lot of times they don't have all the facts. Without them, you are making a non-informed decision. Non-informed decisions are bad decisions. So get all the facts.
2. Make a pros and cons list. You've heard this before but I actually find that some of the biggest decisions I've had to make in my life were made much more easily when I had a pros list and a cons list; pros of doing it, pros of not doing it. Cons of doing it, cons of not doing it.
Then I can actually see just by the number of things on the list, "Wow, there are so many pros to doing this and so very few cons to doing it." Sometimes that will sway my decision very, very quickly. So do that.
If you'll allow me to get a little spiritual on you for a second (because you know we can be spiritual in business too), often the pros of doing something come from you being pulled into your future. Your soul is being called to do something. That's why your list may contain so many positive things.
If you look at the cons list, usually the cons are based on fears - fear of losing money, fear of failure, fear of success, fear of overwhelm, fear of criticism, and the list goes on.
You're being pulled into future if spirit is asking you to do the next right thing. Fear is the opposite. It's your ego pulling your back. I only make decisions based on faith, not fear.
3. Trust your intuition. You know that feeling inside that says, "Oh, I really should be doing that," and then you try to talk yourself out of it? I always say to trust your intuition. I'm going to get spiritual on you again, but your intuition comes from Source. It comes from the Universe. It comes from God, or whatever you may call it. It's like your red phone direct to the big guys upstairs.
When you listen to your intuition it's like getting advice straight from Source. Your intuition is a softer, kinder voice and it's usually quieter than the fear voice of the ego. So if there's a faint voice that says, "Do it," then that's usually Source rather than, "Oh my God! Don't do this! You might lose money. You might fail." That is not your intuition. So, trust your intuition.
4. Ignore your fears. I have to be very careful when I talk about that. There are some good fears like, "Don't jump off that bridge." But there are also the fears that are stopping you from doing the next best thing for your business - whether they've come from your upbringing, or from other people's irrational fears and a slew of other things that we talk about in my mindset workshops but the remember idea from the pros and cons list: Make decisions based on faith.
5. Look at your return on investment. If you know that this is something that's going to get you the result that you want in your business, then be decisive and look at the return on investment. Whenever I am investing in my own business, I look at, "Am I going to get my money back on this?" "Yes." "Am I going to get two times, four times, ten times my investment if I do everything that it says?" If the answer is yes, I say yes and I don't turn back. I want the same thing for you.
6. Flip a coin. Finally, if you just cannot make a decision but you would be okay with either way, than just flip a coin. I know it sounds silly but you've got to be okay with what comes up. The key is to take decisive action and to do the things that you know are going to move you to the next level.