As a green personality, I tend to make decisions slowly. Sometimes, I set them aside and ponder them awhile by the priority level they are in my life. Because of Hill’s findings that “Analysis of sereral hundred people who had accumulated fortunes well beyond the mililion dollar mark, disclosed the fact that every one of them had the habit of REACHING DECISIONS PROMPTLY and of changing these decisions SLOWLY,” I determined that I’d better figure out how to make decions faster….soon!
In my google search of how to go about this, I found these 9 Tips given by different authors in a Success magazine report. The list follows and some of themapply well to Network Marketing. Here are the ideas with my translation to NWM.
TAKEN FROM SUCCESS MAGAZINE
9 Tips to Make Smarter Decisions Faster
September 2, 2016
So how can you get rid of the mind clutter and the anxiety to make better decisions faster?
We asked members of the Young Entrepreneur Council for their best tips. You can use these hacks to start making good (and quick!) decisions in your personal and professional life.
1. Stick to your mission.
In a startup especially, it is vital that every big decision you make is within the scope of your mission. You don’t have the mental or physical resources to spread your net too wide and still succeed. So always ask yourself which option best moves you toward your mission’s goal, and then the choice should be simple.
—James Simpson, Gold Fire Studios
Our startup is the opening of our NWM business. BTW, our 1st decision is to have a goal for our mission! Next is to have a daily plan that is focused. We do best by choosing the marketing approach that works best for us and gets results.
2. Set a time limit.
Give yourself a timer, that helps you focus on the decision rather than having your mind wander and get distracted. With the pressure of a time limit, you’ll need to get to the heart of the matter faster and collect the pros and cons quickly, which you might not otherwise do.
—Murray Newlands, Due.com
This is a really good one for me. I remember when I was teaching school. A half hour break seemed like a huge space of time. I was able to accomplish 4x as much when I knew my time limits.
3. Avoid decision fatigue.
Decision fatigue saps focus and reduces mental energy. Hundreds of trivial daily decisions degrade our ability to focus. I try to systematize small decisions so I don't have to sweat the small stuff—task lists and mindful habit cultivation are key. When an important decision needs making, I’m ready to give my full attention.
—Vik Patel, Future Hosting
This has been really important to me as well. In building my NWM business, a routine is very helpful. It’s ready right when you start working and doesn’t need to be redeveloped daily. All that matters is that you go down the list and have the procedures for each part of the list already determined. That really helps to tax our brains less as the decisions of “how to work” has diminished to just “do the work”.
4. Control what you can control.
At some point, a leader has to wear multiple hats until they have a team to offload responsibility. It’s important to focus on what is in your direct control. Worrying about things outside of your control will result in delaying projects. The more you focus on what you can control, the quicker you will be at making big decisions.
—Drew Gurley, Redbird Advisors
Seems clear to me.
5. Understand pattern recognition.
Most of what we face each day is similar to other scenarios we have already experienced. By understanding this, it’s possible to quickly map a range of previous experiences and their outcomes. Leverage those to arrive at the most viable decision for this case. Over time, as you continue making decisions, their speed and quality will improve.
—Jeff Jahn, DymaniX
This is simply about the value of experience and the perspective we receive from it.
6. Decide whether the decision can be reversed.
Jeff Bezos said it best when he pointed out that there are two types of decisions: decisions you can take back and decisions you can’t. Keep this in mind while making decisions in order to move faster as an organization. If a decision can be taken back after it has been implemented, don't waste time being indecisive Decide, implement, evaluate and reiterate if necessary.
—Michael Saffitz, Apptentive.Inc
In other words, when your decision is a trial run…don’t get bogged down in making a decision…just try it. If it doesn’t work, change it.
7. Make a daily decision quota.
Commit to making a certain number of decisions per day. They can be small (Should I get coffee?) or big (Should I buy this company?), but the process is the same. If you keep track of how many decisions you make, you’ll start to make them faster and more often.
—Carter Thomas, Bluecloud Solutions
This sounds fun to try!
8. Use the common-sense stress test.
After running through a basic cost-benefit analysis, I call one—not five—of my smart friends in a different field who can zoom out and trim the fat off that analysis. As a company with academic roots, some of our team early on had been prone to consulting every conceivable “expert” for weeks or months without action.
—David Mainiero, InGenius Prep
It’s akwats good to get another opinion. One is enough! Here in Mentoring for Free, we can run our decision by Michael. If he thinks it might help us all, there may be a lesson coming about the subject for the whole group.
9. Embrace uncertainty.
Startups win by speed, not clairvoyance. When you’re trying to do something new, you won’t have 100 percent of the information you think you need; there aren’t always industry reports or best practices to adhere to, so accept that you will be wrong 25 percent of the time and try to make as many decisions as possible, followed by execution.
—Hongwei Liu, mappedin
The KEY word being execution! Let’s trust ourselves and the universe & move forward!
Some of these were helpful to me. Hopefully they will help others. Thanks to Linda and Michael Dlouhy for encouraging us to Think…and Grow Rich is many ways. Holiday Blessings to all of you who join us here for the Think and Grow Rich lessons and participate in any way.
