Make a Decision and Stick to It
Are you one of those people who make a decision and stick to it (See post, How to Make Better Decisions)? If you are, good for you, you are in great company. The best leaders, and the most successful people make decisions quickly and are slow to change their minds. In my book, Tales of People Who Get It, a book based on interviews with highly successful people, John Gardner had this to say about making decisions:
“As a manager it is extremely important to work hard at uncovering the facts involved in whatever the problem or situation he faces, and based on those facts, to make the appropriate decision. One must draw a balance, however, between fact-finding and decision-making. It is not healthy to base decisions on incomplete facts. It is also not healthy to spend too long uncovering facts, thereby avoiding making a decision. If I have a regret, it would be with respect to striking a better balance between the two. I likely spent too much time gathering facts, and may not have made decisions fast enough.”
And I would add to Gardner’s response to stick to your decision once you’ve made it. John Gardner was very successful in his career and he also realized the importance of making decisions. I decided that I would take five weeks off to get a good chunk of my classic literature reading done, complete the courses and start writing my book. Originally I had intended to travel to Jamaica, where there would be less distractions, but things didn’t work the way I intended so I decided that staying in Toronto while writing the book would work as well. The plan was to wrap-up client work so my focus would be on my personal project. Well, things never work the way you intend, there will always be a kink in the plan.
For me, I haven’t completed all my client work, or all the courses, so I was thinking that I had to push back the start date to writing my book about my journey toward a liberal arts education. I kept on making adjustments to the decision that I made months ago. It occurred to me that although it’s not ideal for me to be working on client projects while writing my book, since I wanted it to be my sole focus, it’s really not a big deal if I am organized. I don’t have to change my decision.
I know intuitively that when you make a decision you should try to do so quickly, and stick to the decision as much as you can. But knowing something intuitively and taking action is two different things. What an epiphany for me this morning? Now to make sure that I keep all the balls in the air like a juggler, with careful planning, I can wrap up my client work while I write, and when I complete the client work, I can focus on the writing. This is life, there are many bumps in the road, as well as twists and turns, and we have to take things in stride and make the necessary adjustment – we have to be adaptable in today’s world. We do not always have to change our decisions because things are not going as planned – we can make tweaks along the way.
Before you change a decision that you made after much thought, think about things carefully. Can you move forward by making tweaks? Is there another way to get to the end goal without changing your decision? Successful people make a decision and stick to it, let’s learn that lesson from them. Please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. Liked this post? Share it and subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more! If you’re new to the blog, visit the Start Here page for my pillar posts.
Related: How to Make Better Decisions
Author Bio: Avil Beckford, an expert interviewer, entrepreneur and published author is passionate about books and professional development, and that's why she founded The Invisible Mentor and the Virtual Literary World Tour to give you your ideal mentors virtually in the palm of your hands by offering book reviews and book summaries, biographies of wise people and interviews of successful people. Connect with me on Facebook and Twitter.
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