Decisions are tough…
I’ve had decisions that kept me up half the night, maybe you can relate.
Deciding whether we want vanilla or chocolate doesn’t pose much of a challenge but sadly, in life, we are often faced with much harder decisions.
The trouble with many big decisions is that people wonder if they’re doing the right thing.
People are so afraid of making mistakes…that they often decide to do nothing at all.
However, I’ve found that most of the time either we make a decision, or a decision is made for us.
Last week I faced one of the toughest decisions in my life…it’s one that I didn’t want to make, but I knew it was the right one nevertheless.
There are countless times when we know what must be done and yet, many people, against their better judgment, don’t do them.
We are masters of finding excuses why not to
- Quit smoking
- Exercise
- Stop spending money
- Close down a business
- Break up with a girlfriend/boyfriend
- Fire an employee
The facts are right there in front of us and yet we refuse to face reality.
We tell ourselves that everything will be ok.
That we can “control” our smoking habit. We will start exercising “next week.” That business will get better.
Weeks pass, months…and still nothing.
Stuck in the practically the situation we were months ago, only it’s often worse.
Why is that?
First, the situation usually gets worse over time as we haven’t taken any action to remedy the situation and second, we have wasted precious time.
It sounds silly but if it feels “off” then it most likely it is. Go with your gut is an expression for a reason.
The thing about decisions is that they are three-fold; the decision (to stop or start something), the action (to follow out our decision), the follow-through (making sure it sticks).
I’ve heard it said that deciding to do something is often harder than actually doing it.
In my opinion each phase poses its own challenges because people fall into one of three categories:
- Have trouble deciding what to do
- Have trouble doing what they decide to do
- Do what they decide they will do
If you’re in the third group, great. Keep going, you’re on the right track.
Unfortunately, most of us get stuck in one of the first two groups.
We all have those times when we are unsure what to do. Do we take the job or stick with the one we have? Do we say goodbye to someone we love or issue an ultimatum?
Fear, or perhaps, paralysis takes hold and end up doing nothing at all.
This is common for many people.
If this is you, then the best advice I can give you is decide and then be an airplane. What do I mean by that?
Did you know that airplanes are off course 90% of the time?
And yet they reach their destinations without trouble thanks to lots of tiny course corrections along the way. That’s what we must do.
Life rarely makes things easy for us. In fact, I’m convinced that life is constantly challenging us to see if we really do want what we decide. Only those who take action and see things through in the end are rewarded.
Which brings me to the second most common ailment when it comes to deciding; lack of action.
Over the past 22 years I’ve met lots of people who have said they wanted this or that…but somehow never got what they wanted.
What happened?
Most of the time I put it down to lack of two things:
- Research
- Effort
Too often people don’t really know what something entails. They underestimate the time that will be needed, the costs that will incur and the pressure it takes to achieve what they want.
This goes the same whether people want to write a book or build a business.
People haven’t done the necessary research to understand just what that endeavor will take, and as a result are often surprised by how hard it really is…which in turn affects their effort.
Running this website hasn’t been a cakewalk by any means.
It’s a lot of work. It takes a whole lot of time. And in 2013 I intend to devote even more time to making iSucceed, a bigger brand.
But I’m committed to my goal.
Most people close the book the minute they hit a rough patch.
Divorces today are at an all-time high in many of the developed countries of the world, many of which I believe could have been avoided but today we are more sensitive than ever before. Our lack of attention is clear as we jump from site to site or channel to channel looking for something new to entertain us.
The Internet has made us expect results instantaneously but in life and in business that’s just not how it works.
Things do take time.
There is a “tipping point” that must be reached in all our endeavors. Sometimes that can be days, sometimes years.
The question we must ask ourselves is simply this – how bad do we want it?
If we really want it, we will find a way. If we don’t, we’ll find excuses.
Each day we are faced with decisions that could very well change our lives forever…never underestimate their power and don’t be someone who looks back on their life full of missed opportunities but rather one full of incredible adventures undertaken.
Adrian Shepherd