Evaluating Options vs. Making Excuses

The Balanced Life: When circumstances change open a new door

Evaluating Options vs. Making Excuses

This month I am going to start with a bold statement and then I’ll explain myself

Spending more time on a decision doesn’t always produce better results.

As business owners, we are faced with countless decisions. Many of these decisions require us to make informed choices about topics we know very little about. It can become the source of inaction which leads to failure.

At the bottom of this article, I have shared a link to a video I did a couple years ago on General Norman Schwarzkopf. He was the leader of the Coalition forces in the first Gulf War in the 1990s. I was surprised to learn about something Schwarzkopf had learned about decision making and had implemented in his own leadership style and made me think about my own decision making in life and business.

His mentor had to make a serious military decision that had stumped experts for 10 years. The man looked over the highly technical documents and in 30 seconds made a decision. When Schwarzkopf asked the General how he knew what to do, the General answered that there was little chance they’d get more or better information. They could keep thinking about it and make no decision—analysis paralysis—or they could take action and then evaluate the results.

Wow. Consider the implications for you and your business. When facing decisions, it is better to lean towards taking action.

I have personally noticed that the most successful leaders make decisions this way. They gather information, evaluate options, select one, and then decide if that choice was right or wrong. After reviewing time and results they adjust as needed. But the key is, they make a choice.

This was hard for me because in school you are punished for making mistakes. You are expected to be a novice at the beginning and know all the answers at the end. But life isn’t like that. In life, you take action, learn from mistakes, adjust, and try again with better knowledge.

The Balanced Life Resources are all about providing ideas and options, asking the questions to guide the next decision. When we want to do things perfectly we will find we don’t do things at all. That is the difference between making a way and making an excuse.

Start to make decisions and clear things off of your list. Over-thinking leads to no action and complete exhaustion. In a world where so much information is always available we are even more worried about making a mistake. However, what your life needs isn’t more information, it is more action.

1. Evaluate options

2. Determine the desired outcome

3. Make the decision you think will most likely move you in the direction you’re trying to go while keeping other priorities in mind

4. Evaluate results and Adjust accordingly.

Don’t allow the possibility of making a small, unanticipated error cause you to make the larger, preventable error of indecision.

Participate: Share below a time you were worried about making a decision, but made one and then tell what you learned from it. And feel free to share this post with others who would enjoy it.

Watch: A couple years ago I shared this story in a video. You can watch it here:

A piece of advice that changed my life: