Indecision Creates Instability In Your Business

One of the things I see business owners struggle with all the time is indecision. They revisit the same decision over and over, hoping for more clarity or certainty before they move forward. But the longer you stay stuck in indecision, the more instability it creates in your business.

Here’s the thing about decisions - they create momentum, provide data, and build self-confidence. But a lot of business owners spend far more time thinking about decisions than actually making them.

Sometimes it’s perfectionism. We want certainty before we take action because we’re afraid of getting it wrong. Sometimes it’s comfort. It feels easier to keep thinking about the decision than making it and dealing with the outcome. And sometimes it’s overwhelm. The more we overthink, the more self doubt we create.

When you make a decision, you get data. And data helps you learn, improve, and move forward. And here’s a tip - if you struggle with decisions in your business, there’s a good chance you struggle with them in your personal life, too.

What’s bad about waiting to decide?

Indecision wastes time. It consumes headspace and spreads like an invasive weed. It creates instability mentally, operationally, and financially.

Running a business is hard, but we do it in the hope of enjoying our work. When you avoid decisions and can’t commit to one direction, you walk around with something unfinished weighing you down. You keep replaying it in your mind, using up precious mental energy. That causes a back up in the line of other decisions and responsibilities.

It’s a bottleneck. A detour. A mental traffic jam. And it can all lead to burnout.

What does indecision look like?

I’ve worked with many business owners who are uncomfortable with creating proposals. You have a client who wants to work with you. This should be easy. But you worry - is the price too high or too low? Is the scope of work realistic? Are you providing value for cost? You hover over the send button for days, leaving money on the table.

I also see it in the development of packages and offers. Without a template, structure, or framework, you’re reinventing the wheel each time you offer something to a potential client. This causes overwhelm and keeps you - and your business - idling in place.

Indecision wears on your peace of mind. You think about it constantly, revisiting the mental volley, and second guessing yourself. You can’t gain traction or build steady momentum with the stop and start that comes with hesitating to decide.

So how do you make decisions?

It starts with the acceptance of risk. Decisions are made without 100% clarity or certainty, all the time, every day. There’s no guarantee that you’ll make the right decision, but it’s better than standing still in indecision. That might feel safer in the moment, but there’s nothing safe about being stagnant in your business because you’re “waiting to feel ready”.

Ready isn’t a feeling. It’s a commitment.

As a recent Forbes article on leadership and indecision pointed out, the cost of waiting is often greater than the cost of making an imperfect decision.

And this is where the data comes in. Data creates a feedback loop and helps you tweak and make adjustments.

How do you change indecisive patterns?

The first thing is committing to a weekly CEO Hour, preferably on Fridays, to review the past week and prepare for the coming week. It’s about making small decisions, planning, executing, and moving forward.

Next, do a quarterly planning activity to set realistic goals that you can focus on achieving in your plan that you commit to during your weekly CEO Hour.

If you’re feeling particularly stuck right now with a decision that’s become too overwhelming to make alone, I offer a Laser Consult Session to get you into action. Set up a time to connect and see if that’s a good fit for you.