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Posts Tagged ‘decision making’

Have you ever had the feeling that you need to do something, and you need to do something now! That is an example of a pressing need. Too often a pressing need drives a desperation that can cloud your judgment when making decisions. When it is a desperate need that drives and guides you when making a decision, instead of a desire of your heart, you could be making a big mistake. What you think is taking a leap of faith, may actually be a leap of fear. But a leap is always scary, so how do you know the difference?

1.  Start by Being Honest With Yourself …
Taking a leap of faith is putting your trust in something that you believe in. You take action because you have a level of confidence that it will work out.  Yes, there maybe some fear mixed in there because there is no guarantee that it will work out. But it is faith mixed with fear, it is not panic and fear. This is something that you cannot fake and you need to really be honest with yourself. If you examine your motives you should quickly be able to figure out if you are making the decision in faith or out of fear. The problem with taking a leap out of fear is that your heart is not really in it. It is something you feel you MUST do rather than something you have a desire to do.

Acting out of fear also shows desperation. When you are desperate you won’t be thinking clearly. You will have this huge problem hanging over your head making you worry.  So any decisions you make at that point will be clouded by the problem you are facing. You will be thinking of the consequences of not taking the leap rather than the benefits of taking the leap.

2. Let Your Desire For Change Drive You …
Most of the time when you take a leap of fear it doesn’t work out and that leaves you even worse off than before. It’s essential that you are honest with yourself when making a decision. Make your decisions and take that that leap out of a desire for change and not out of a desperate need. You don’t want that need to be clouding your judgment.   You want clear purposeful goals in mind.

3. Monitor Your Motive …
•    What is your heart saying when you think about the decision? Aside from the nerves, is there a burning desire to take the leap? Or do you feel you must take action because there is no alternative? There should always be a desire behind a leap, that’s a positive sign that it’s a leap of faith.

•    Is it a pressing need that is egging you on or is it something that you can approach with a level of confidence? A leap of faith should be something you approach with confidence. If all you feel is worry and fear then it may not be a good idea to proceed.

•    Are you thinking clearly? Can you envision the benefits you want from taking the leap and know why you want to do it? The desire in your heart will drive your leap and give you the confidence to take it because you will know what you want.

•    Do you feel desperate? That is a sign that you could be leaping in fear and not faith. Stop and rethink the decision to leap and the direction of the leap.

When you have a pressing need making you worry it is difficult to think clearly. Most often you can be overcome with a sense of desperation and that can lead to bad decision making. You may leap at anything that promises to change your situation rather than it being something that will really benefit you. My advice, make decisions to leap when you know your motive is right and you’re doing it with a clear, achievable objective in mind.

Bernadette Doyle is a marketing specialist who helps entrepreneurs become client magnets and attract a steady stream of their ideal clients. If you’d like to receive invaluable tips and advice on how to attract clients with ease, register at http://www.clientmagnets.com

Let’s say that you set a goal to quit smoking, or to lose 20 pounds or to make a million dollars. What is your very next step?

In any of those instances, the first step is basically the same. You need to make a decision. Whatever goal you want to achieve is the direct result of the decisions you make to achieve it. Everything you’ve experienced, in your career, your personal life, in your financial status, is a result of the decisions you’ve made.

And, if you don’t like the results, then you need to change the decisions.

In fact, I encourage you to take that even one step further. Don’t just change the decisions, change your decision-making process. The decisions you make are a result of your decision-making process, and you just might have a faulty process.

Only you know for sure if your decision-making process is flawed. How is your year going?   Are you living the glory days or just a mediocre existence?  Are you achieving outrageous success or is your business just full of challenges? You know because you’re living it.

Learn the three key questions you should ask that will help you to improve, not simply the decisions that you make, but the way in which you make them.

1.    “What’s the worst thing that can happen?” Consider the worst-case scenario when you make a decision. Asking yourself this will help you learn how to take risks in your business. It will toughen you against the possibility of any little thing going wrong, and will give you the confidence to move forward in spite of that possibility.

The thought of losing money holds a lot of people back from taking risks or making changes. But if you consider the worst that could happen, it’s impossible to lose money. If something doesn’t turn out the way you anticipated, you may not have received the expected return on your investment, but you didn’t lose. You learned. Consider it an education expense.

2.    ”What will it cost me if I don’t do (or buy) this?” If you ask yourself, “What will it cost me to do this (or buy this)?” instead, you are allowing the cost of something to be the prime motivator in your decision-making.

How much money you have or don’t have should not govern the decisions you make in your business. The key is that when you’re not afraid of losing money, you make different decisions about money and it no longer governs your business decisions.

3.    “What do I need to get an instant return on this investment?” When you invest in something, like a product or a mentor or even a virtual assistant, you want to know how to ensure that you see that investment back quickly. In the end, what you need is for that investment to not actually cost you money but end up making you money.

Notice that not one of the questions asks, “What’s the cheapest way to do this?” That’s not how I want you to think. That’s not how you should make decisions.

Apply these questions to an investment you’ve been considering – something that you’ve been thinking about doing in your business, something that you’ve been wanting to do and that you know would help you grow your business. Maybe you’ve been telling yourself you can’t afford to do it.

Approach that investment with these three questions and you’ll see what happens. These questions will lead to different solutions for you. These are some of the very questions that I include in my own decision making, and I know that they will open up some new possibilities for you.

In order to take your business from where you are now to a soaring success by the end of this year, chances are you’re going to need to make some investments.

In this economy, that word, investments, makes most people shudder. But, the kind of investments I’m talking about aren’t nearly as risky or as scary as placing all your money into some fund, speculating on the market and hoping to see a good return.

The investments I’m talking about are much more secure than that. And, they are guaranteed to produce results.

You may need to invest in software, or in building your team. You may need to invest in attending an event or in recruiting the right people, or getting the right experts to assist you with a certain part of your business. You may need to invest in your education.

Rest assured, there is always some type of investment that you need to make in order for your business to grow.

Personally, I’ve invested a lot in my business. I’ve done all of those things I just mentioned, from building my team, to belonging to mastermind groups and purchasing software systems. These things are all essential to growth.

Before you think, “Sure, Bernadette, that’s easy for you to say, with all this money, your nice big house, your nanny and your housekeeper,” I want you to know that this is not a recent habit for me.

I didn’t allow cost to be the prime motivator in my decisions, even when I was broke. Not that long ago, when I had a small baby and was paying so much of my income to childcare, I was presented the opportunity to jump onboard Yanik Silver’s marketing mastermind group. This was far more than I had ever spent before. But it is one of the best investments I’ve ever made.

Yes, you’ll spend a lot of money on these things year after year, but they’re good investments. They help to grow your business.

Your bank balance shouldn’t determine your decision making. If it does, your balance won’t actually change until you stop making your decisions that way.

The decision to make an investment in your business is as much a psychological stretch as it is a financial stretch. Like any investment, you have to weigh the factors to determine if the investment is sound for you. But, instead of asking, “What will it cost me to do this?” the better question is, “What will it cost me if I don’t do this?”

Even if you think that you simply, physically don’t have the money to invest in software or an assistant, you need to look beyond that. This is where the leap of faith comes in. By putting that person in place or buying that software, you will free up time so you can then go out and bring on one more client.

If that additional client spends $1,000 with you and the assistant or software cost you $300 a month, essentially that investment saved you or made you $700 more per month.

Start looking at investments in your business as what you will be losing by NOT making them. You stand to GAIN SO MUCH MORE by giving your business the support and backing it needs to grow. The returns on your investment will be well worth it in the end.