Why Indecision Is Ruining Your Business

We feel indecisive during many instances in our lives. Our tendency to attach heightened importance to the most mundane of decisions breeds inaction and paralysis by analysis.

Some decisions are certainly significant and could have major implications on your life. But the truth is, most decisions are just not as big of a deal as your mind tries to make them look.

By making decisions feel incredibly important and exponentially large, the mind creates the perfect storm for paralyzing fear, a fear that keeps you from taking the action that you already know deep inside needs to be taken.

The truth is, in almost all cases the worst-case scenario you imagine in your mind is likely to be far more exaggerated than the actual outcome would be in real life.

Chronic indecision has immense implications for your quality of life and your business. Here’s why indecision could be holding you back:

It keeps you from taking your business to the next level.

Failure to make crucial decisions blocks you from numerous opportunities.

Here’s the thing: you will never know what awaits you on the other side of the door unless you take some sort of action. Action could just be what you need to secure that funding, to scale your business, to grow your team, to partner up with those investors.

Bottom line—action opens up doors and inaction simply keeps them shut. The more indecisive you are, the more your business will stagnate at the same point and never grow.

There is no guarantee that your taking action will always result in excellent results. But even when the results of your action are less than desirable, you will come out knowing what works for your business and what doesn’t so you can make better decisions in the future.

It creates a recipe for poor leadership and poor outcomes

When you refuse to make decisions or avoid making decisions, especially the important ones, someone else will end up making them for you. The person who makes decisions for you may not be the most competent person to do it.  You are the captain of your business, not them.

Letting another person decide for you is like giving up control of your business and saying, “Oh well, I don’t know what I want so take this ship wherever you want to take it.” You can already guess the outcome: disappointing.

Whether it’s customers, employees, teammates, or business partners, you do not want to give them the power to make decisions about the course of your business. They may have the best intentions (or not) but they may not choose what is most appropriate especially when the issue at hand is of utmost importance to your own life.

It creates a lack of trust among associates and employees

Just for a moment, think about what your perception would be toward an indecisive individual, especially one in a leadership position. If you encountered such a person, you would likely not trust them or have confidence in their ability to get the job done. You would likely be hesitant to do business with them or to invest in their venture.

This is how your team, your associates and everyone you interact with will see you when you are constantly unable to make decisions and fail to take deliberate action.

Indecision dumbs down your authority as a leader so your team will not take you seriously or trust you to lead the business in the right destination. It’s hardly surprising that indecisive leaders often have turnover problems and are unable to retain talented individuals; people can see right through a ‘leader’ who is paralyzed by inaction and the bright ones simply move on to projects that are led by visionary, courageous and decisive leaders.

Want to build a great team that will push your business to success? Display courage and an ability to make firm decisions, and follow through with them.

Want to win the trust of associates? Be the person who makes solid decisions and stays true to their word by taking the necessary action steps to make things happen.

It diminishes your level of self-confidence

When indecision becomes a habit, it tends to corrode your self-confidence. You could be the most confident person but the more decisions you put off making, the more your confidence wanes.

Here’s how it works: Making business decisions is about accepting the inherent risks and uncertainties of your decisions. This in itself is an act of confidence. So the more you practice the art of accepting risks and the unforeseen, the more confident you become in your capabilities, in your strengths and in your ability to do what is right for your business.

On the contrary, the more you avoid risk and uncertainty, the more you settle in your comfort zone and the more your lose the confidence to take drastic actions that could be just what your business needs at any given time.

Stop being indecisive

Indecision and inaction are like a muscle—the more you use them as excuses, the more powerful habits they become, eventually bringing your business and indeed your entire life to stagnation.

The good news is that you can choose today to start taking more action and being more decisive. What decision (big or small) could you make today that could have a positive effect on your business?