As the CEO of your practice, you are likely presented with the need to make a significant number of decisions each day, week and year. If you have all the correct answers right at top of mind and make them quickly, there would be no stress at all.
However, the magnitude of the individual decisions and the quantity of required decisions can sometimes seem overwhelming and, as they pile up on each other without resolution, they can bring about a condition of “indecision-stress.”
What are some of the ways to make sane decisions quicker and easier? Here are some key factors that will help:
Time of day
Have you ever observed that you are sometimes to make good, sound decisions? Some people are not morning people, so afternoon or evening might be the preferred time to make the best decisions. Vice versa, evenings may be a bad time for others due to tiredness. Pick you best time for clear thinking and plan that into your schedule.
Where to decide
Even the question of where to make your best decisions could be considered. For instance, at work with a bunch of people bouncing around and endless phone calls may not be conducive to productive use of your decision-making time. Escaping to a quiet café or restaurant for a half hour at lunch or end of day may be the best choice.
Who needs to be involved
Some practitioners ask everybody and their brother and end up with “opinion overload” or “split-decision syndrome”. Many decisions need to be made on your own. Having a solid, successful mentor or consultant is definitely an asset when it comes to the bigger decisions.
Collect the facts
Before making a decision, ask yourself if you have done your homework of collecting all possible information needed in order to make the decision properly. Deciding major questions without all the pertinent facts can produce disastrous results.
Big Picture/Small Picture Thinking
Before making any decision firm, ensure that you have considered the long term effect of said decision as well as the short term outcome. Sometimes what you decide on an immediate basis will not suit the long term plans you have.
Trial decisions
Sometimes you can take the approach to a major change or decision by trying it out as a pilot project first. For example, you want to implement a new recall or reminder system but are not positive that it will achieve the results you want. Why not try out the new way for two weeks to see how it goes?
Rash vs. Rational
To avoid making rash decisions, another successful method is to write down all the pros and all the cons to see which outweighs the other. By taking this approach, it can often be a much more rational decision without gut reactions or emotional input.
Overcoming procrastination
Brain-freeze and procrastination can be debilitating to say the least, and can make your life miserable as you live with these unmade decisions haunting you daily. Decide to change your ways on this and create a system to prevent the putting off of decision-making. Perhaps writing down all your indecisions in a list and then prioritizing them will give some clarity. Then, enter a due date for each decision into your scheduler and set up a reward system for accomplishing each one by the due date. Bribe yourself shamelessly, in other words!
Empower others
One last thought … maybe you are being given other people’s problems to decide on and you should be aware of this and push it back over to them. You do not need to be a problem-magnet. Empower others to be responsible for their own decisions.
There you go … hope these ideas help!
