Forcing Decisions

There are a lot of truisms about how “done is better than good,” or how “perfection is the enemy of good.” I don’t know how I feel about these, but through trying to make myself put something on paper daily, I will say the following: the speed of decision making is a real thing.

1. Feeling stuck because I’m not sure what to do both wastes time and doesn’t feel good. It’s better to start with something I can respond to, and leverage that to help me make more informed decisions in the future. This is especially true sometimes for group decisions where having an example multiple people can respond to will help guide the conversation more than an open ended questions.
2. If I’m going to spend time on anything, I know I will generally feel better if I have something tangible to show at the end of the time I spend. Yes sometimes I have regrets for launching head into a thing I didn’t understand, but I’ve rarely made a poor enough decision that I felt it would have been better to entirely not engage.
3. I find I am usually respected more for being willing to speak up or take action than I am for staying quiet. This is both cultural and situation, so will not be true for everyone. That being said, if you want to score bonus points with a senior leader, there’s nothing like being willing to engage in conversation and show you’re ready for open and honest discussion on key ideas.

I’m still learning how to incorporate this more regularly into my busy day, but recognizing it as a value I hold is a good place to start.