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| Do You Practice Active
Decision Making? Many years ago when I was young and callow, I received an invitation to attend a "Decision-Makers" conference. Trouble was, I couldn't make up my mind whether to go or not. I didn't. As the French proverb says, "Between two stools, you sit on the floor." Like a great many people before and after me, I had to learn the hard way to actively take control of my life. Prevarication is a poor master, but one that will rule you with a rod of iron if you don't choose to stop it. Banish from your mind and your vocabulary the words, "I'll think about it." You won't. Something else will take your eye and divert your attention. Unless you make a positive decision to do or not to do, right now, you are very unlikely to revisit. Nobody ever became a success by hesitating. Success comes to those who jump in and have a go. I am not by any means suggesting that you should embrace every hare-brained scheme or half-baked idea that you come across. Far from it. What I am saying is that you must develop the skill to actively decide what to do in any given situation and not leave the result to chance. For example, I get about 200 e-mails a day. Whenever I go to my inbox I have to make quick choices about all the e-mails waiting to get my attention: Send it straight to trash There may be other choices, but the point is made. If I don't actively decide between these options I would very quickly get an inbox so full that I would never get the chance to act on any of them. Life and business is very much like that. In this twenty-first century we live in, only those who have mastered the art of 'keeping up' can survive and thrive. There is no room for procrastination. Very often the only decision you need to make is whether to act or not. Once you have made that positive commitment to yourself, the 'putting into action' part of the equation follows naturally. Don't over analyze. There are two kinds of
decisions. The other kind of decisions account for the vast majority: those that can be changed, modified or adapted after they have been made. There is never any good reason to put off actively making these decisions. Go with your gut instinct. 90% of the time it will be right. Even in the times it isn't, you can reverse it pretty quickly. Don't be frightened of losing a little face. In business, someone who has the guts to make a decision, and then, in the light of new facts, the courage to decide to reverse it, is someone destined for the top. Don't think too far in the
future. When to avoid making a
decision. Some questions are unanswerable and sometimes you simply don't have enough facts to make an informed decision. In these cases, your active decision is to wait, gather more facts, or seek advice. 'Do nothing' is not an option. I leave the final words to two successful businessmen from opposite sides of the Atlantic: 'If I had to sum up in one word what makes a good manager, I'd say decisiveness. You can use the fanciest computers to gather the numbers, but in the end you have to set a timetable and act."--Lee Iacocca, former Chrysler chief. "A lot of companies I deal with seem incapable of making a decision. It doesn't matter if the decision you make is right or wrong. What matters is that you make it and don't waste your company's time. If you make the decision, you begin to distinguish the good from the bad."--Peter Kindersley, UK publisher. Mark Avis is a management and training consultant. For an unfair advantage (+6 free gifts) in business, Internet marketing, and personal success, subscribe free to his weekly newsletter, BizE-zine. mailto: subscribe5@BizE-zine.com |
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