Making Difficult Decisions As A Small Business Owner

Running your own small business means the buck stops with you. While you’re the one who makes all of the decisions, this also means you face the consequences if things go wrong. You’ll want to avoid consistently making poor decisions, so you should create your own process for making any difficult decision.

Take a Break
There aren’t any good decisions that come from a rushed or fatigued executive, so avoid snapping to a decision when you feel drained of energy. Instead, a five or 10-minute break can give you a chance to refresh yourself and let your brain mull over the matter. Once you’re feeling invigorated, you can return to your office and clearly analyze the situation.

List the Pros and Cons
Your next step should involve writing the question or concern out on a piece of paper. Beneath the question, list the pros on one side and the cons on the other side. This will give you a physical representation of the issue at hand, so you can see the relevant information in front of you. This often helps to simplify the decision-making process.

Don’t Ignore Your Feelings
Yes, the facts matter, but only to a certain extent. You should also trust your gut instincts or intuition in making your decision. A good method for doing this is to envision the outcome of each potential decision to see how you will feel about the results. This will be effective in helping you choose the alternative that will affect you in the most positive way. In many cases, the decision will come down to intuition rather than just facts, so this is an important part of the process. People who make decisions based on intuition are less likely to regret the choice they make than those who make decisions solely based on facts.

Once you have made a decision, stick to it. Second-guessing yourself will only make the situation harder on yourself because you’ll never feel quite sure that you’re doing the right thing. That will affect your self-confidence and make it harder for you to handle the next decision. As a business owner, you’ll have to accept that you’ll make the wrong decision from time to time. When you do, use the opportunity to learn from the situation. Next time, you’ll make a better decision.

Originally posted on JasonBondPicks.biz.