Two common problems conspire to thwart potential.
Indecision
Getting stuck wondering which course of action is the best one to take. The more options you have, the more difficult this becomes.
The reasons for the indecision can include fear, lack of confidence, incompetence, emotions, ignorance, family – to name but a few.
Often, this indecisiveness can be prolonged, habitual and, a mighty convenient excuse!
Is it not beholden to us all to make maximum use of our talents and capabilities, with whatever time we have? Indecisiveness is wasteful, self-indulgent and a scandalous loss to the world.
Quite simply, you have no time to lose.
Follow-Through
Ah ha, so you’ve made the decision, but somehow, inexplicably, the action doesn’t follow. Thus, the decision weakens and eventually disappears.
Naturally, this could be due to lack of confidence in the decision in the first place. But, it could also be down to lack of time, imposter syndrome, opposition, lack of confidence, ignorance, overwhelm, incompetence, emotions, lack of motivation – to name but a few.
Thing is, what’s the bally point in making a decision if you’re not going to act on it? And again, lack of follow-through is a travesty – for you and quite likely, for us too!
Why? Because you have no time to lose.
In my coaching practice I’ve been through both of these with hundreds of talented people.
Mostly, the problems lie hidden in their decision-making processes – or rather, lack of them. Occasionally, the decision will be sound but the action doesn’t quite follow, or a good decision soon waivers. Very occasionally, people suffer with both – taking ages to make a decision, and then when they do, something goes wrong in the execution.
Improving Decision-Making
It is imperative that all of us continually work on improving our personal decision-making, and then make sure we back up our decisions with solid action to see things through. That’s the way to pick up speed, increase the scope and scale of our results, and frankly, to live and work better than ever.
- Recognise early when the lack of a decision is holding you back. Get into the habit of asking yourself review questions like, “What decision needs to be made to move forward faster?” Get it popping up on your reminders. Check in with yourself on a regular basis.
- Map out a robust process to guide you through to a clear decision. Template process abound on the internet. Go grab a handful to inspire your personal process, or one suitable to the decision at hand. These don’t need to be complicated, just a simple process that gathers the information, analyses pros/cons, consults others and considers the risks and mitigating/contingent actions.
- Ensure you seek the right counsel. Friends and family will be well-meaning, but often unreliable contributors. Listen to people who don’t agree with you, but you nevertheless trust. Take each input not as advice, but as a contribution to your thinking.
- Fill the gaps in your knowledge. Perfect information is never possible, especially when it comes to politics and career decisions – but gaping great holes in your awareness can render any decision useless.
- Avoid perfectionism. Most times, an imperfect decision will out-perform a perfect one because of the action that follows. Perfect decisions don’t get made because you never have perfect information.
- Get buy-in from those closest to you. The best decision may be only right for you. If your nearest and dearest doesn’t agree with your decision, opportunities to undermine it will abound. Sure, they will be doing it out of care for you, worried you might be overstepping yourself – yet that constant voice of disagreement will chip away at your motivation so best to tackle that one right up front. The more people you can have backing your decision the better.
- Recognise the role of commitment, which is far more important than the path. When you make a decision is it very difficult to be precise about the path that you will take in the achievement of said goal. Focus on making a clear (and detailed enough) decision – and then commit to it wholeheartedly – “come what may, this decision is going to be realised, I’m going to hit that goal!”
Easier said than done for sure, but once you get the decision, the follow-through become a matter of discipline and prioritisation – which are much easier to do once you have a good decision.
Improving Follow-Through
Since we’re here, follow-through can be improved by:
- Getting well organised so that you are always presented with the next task. This needs to be appropriate to your work style. Some love more spontaneity, others detailed lists. Whatever you do, make sure to keen the goal remains present to guide your thought and action.
- Setting up reminders of your goal, vision or decision, to reaffirm your motivation. Follow-through doesn’t fail due to lack of time, it fails due to lack of attention. If the decision is important to you, act as if it is.
- Get busy with small tasks that will quickly accumulate into big steps forward. Oft times things can feel too big to start. So break things down to a level that gets you moving. Then keep moving – momentum is important.
- Stop thinking about the decision – it’s been made. Now, get on with it!
- Gather support around you, either in terms of active contributors to the action, or those who will believe in you and encourage you to go that extra mile.
- Take care with the naysayers. You need to hear what they have to say but react with your logical mind AND remember it is only their perspective, with their experience – never take their advice as fact until you have analysed it.
- Make follow-through your top priority every day. The action needs to be appropriate, and you certainly don’t want to drop everything else. However, your first thought when planning your day needs to be, “How can I move forward on this decision/goal today?”
Personal decision-making and follow-through are extremely important if you want to get somewhere. Talent is useless unless it can’t be deployed, and these are deployment capabilities we are talking about here.
Getting Moving
Because you really do not have any time to lose – here’s a few entertaining (or worrying) questions to close with:
- How many years, and how many months, before you want to retire?
- How many months have you been indecisive?
- Therefore, what percentage of your career have you waiting?
- How long can you tolerate more delay?
- What do you need to do right now to start moving this forward?
Okay, i’m out of here – because like you, I have no time to lose.
Just do me a favour – talk to someone about this if you are needing support in your decisions or follow-through. And if you don’t have anyone else to talk to, talk to me.
Colin Gautrey
Provocative Coach/Mentor | Specialism: Impact and Influence
Ready to take the next step? Discover how personalised coaching can ignite your full potential and accelerate your success. When you’re ready, let’s talk about how we can work together to turn your vision into a reality.
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