Decisions Can Be Tough To Make

I was helping a friend of mine the other day. He was excited about a business opportunity. He had so many things to consider, so many options to consider it was overwhelming for him. I sensed his anxiety. I felt for him for, I knew exactly what he was feeling. I have been there.

It reminded about a man that I used to work for back in Ohio. He always made me write down my "great ideas" in detail. I would take him an idea, he would say "write it down and bring it back when you have finished writing out your idea and plan for implementation". Man, I hated to hear him say those words. If Hugh said this to me once, he said it to me a hundred times. It got so bad I did not want to tell him my latest and greatest ideas!

The truth is that he was helping me a bunch. It is way easier to come up with ideas than it is to figure out how to execute them. I have a lot of friends and customers come to me with ideas for new business or expanding their current business. They tell me their ideas and I tell them to "go write it down". "Think it through," "count the cost," "figure out how you are going to make this happen". I give them the same advice my mentor gave me nearly 40 years ago.

In my 30 year banking career, I have learned that the guys that do write it down, figure out each detail, "count the cost", ultimately have success. The guys that just let the moment of excitement and emotion dictate their actions seldom succeed. Most of the time they never even get started.

Need to make a tough decision, write it down along with the plan to implement it.