Impossible Decisions

The Discipline of Saying “Enough”

What are impossible decisions?

We’ve all been there. Unsure what to do, and in the frenzy of the moment make a decision that is based on fear or bad timing versus sound judgment, planning, and/or responsibility.

These decisions are unavoidable in life.

We come across them in business and our personal lives all the time.

“I need to do X, but I can’t because A, B, and C have already occurred.” The dominos have already started to fall.

“I should have that conversation, but I know it’s too late.” We kick the can down the road.

So what happens when a decision isn’t made? The problem festers. It grows. It compounds and gets worse making the next decision even harder. As time passes the weight of what you should have done impacts you more, and instead of managing one task you have succumbed to managing additional tasks born from your inability to take care of prior issues. Again, the dominos have started to fall regardless of your desire for them not to. You are left in a hopeless state –  participating as a spectator being run by the situation instead of managing it effectively.

The business (or relationship) begins to run you. You have forfeited (willingly) your responsibilities of running your business (or relationship).

We hope and pray that the situation will self-correct.

We want the problems to go away. But they don’t. They never do.

We know better. The data or common sense tells us to do one thing, but our back is against the wall. Time is ticking. We can’t hesitate and need to do something!

Our only option? We are only left to make another impossible decision. We trade off “problem solving” for “problem management.” We are left curing the ailments instead of fixing the root cause of the disease.

Business success, just like life success, is based upon how we confront and tackle these decisions. We need clarity and stillness. We need to be able to separate the emotional element from the reality of the situation. The pain or discomfort we are experiencing is more a product of our imagination versus reality.

I won’t speak to you in terms of personal life decision making. That is not what this blog is about. I will only speak to you with regards to business decision-making.

How do we avoid the traps of impossible decisions?

We must say “enough.”

The line in the sand must be drawn. We must decide how we will operate moving forward.

Enough of chasing revenue. Enough of knee jerk reactions. Enough of…thinking we are not good enough.

We can’t bargain with ourselves. Isn’t bargaining what got us in this situation in the first place?

A business plan is built upon the foundation of accountability. Are we accountable for our actions? Are we willing to hold ourselves accountable for what we committed to (the business plan)?

Or will we just let our emotional reactions take control of the situation? Will we again, bargain our way out of doing the hard work? Sounds more like the definition of insanity to me.

In marketing there is a content calendar that holds us accountable.

In construction there is a blueprint that tells us what to do.

In business there are forecasts, budgets and models that help guide the way.

But what happens when something random does occur? Maybe, a sudden loss of a client that throws all common-sense out the window leaving us in a state of panic.

Do we pivot and get creative using whatever intelligence and data we have? Or do we ignore it and hope it will pass?

We must stay grounded. We must not panic. We must always trust in our experience and the team around us to dig in. We must do the hard work when hard work is needed.

Making decisions within a silo will never work. We must do the opposite.

The need to be transparent is never more important than in times of crisis. If we want to find a way out of the mess, we need to open up. Pulling back and hiding will only lead to another compounding impossible decision.

When I ran my business I was continually confronted with impossible decisions:

Should I close my doors when construction delays took a year longer than expected?

Do I stop the business when the pandemic stole all my business?

Do I start another revenue stream with limited cash to dig my way out of this mess?

In each case I trusted my experience. I went back to work with a greater sense of accountability and dedicated to seeing it through.

I went back to my business plan and reworked the numbers.

I went back to my forecast to ensure all my ducks were in a row.

I went back to work!

Without the guidance and visibility financial planning provides us, how on earth can we expect to navigate challenges that come before us?

We know markets will fluctuate. We know customers will come and go. That is just a fact of life and business.

We need to build the foundation that withstands the blows of economic changes. We must have a plan and hold ourselves accountable to it. We must do the hard work.

Have you done the hard work? Or have you just been bargaining?

Disclaimer: My blog is written in journal entry form. I write to improve my writing skills. There might be grammatical errors, but that is okay, because I am human. So please forgive me. It’s not perfect, but neither am I.