Master this One Business Skill for Success

For many, owning a business proves challenging, laborious, and even overwhelming at times—and I know this first hand.

But I also know none of that is a requirement for success.

By adjusting one important skill that you already use everyday, you’ll very likely end up changing your business and life.

The Simple Skill

So what is it? It’s decision making.

Every minute we make multiple decisions, and it’s not uncommon for us to repeat decisions so often that they quickly morph into habits.

Think about it.

What’s the first thing you do when you get up? What’s your routine before you start work in the morning? What’s the first beverage you grab to start your day?

These simple decisions, made each and every day, soon become our basic habits.

So, what if you were more conscious of your decisions and started making them with intention.

Just like deciding that you’re going coffee-free in the morning, a change in a business decision requires you break old habits and patterns and work to implement your new path.

To optimize your business success, you need to make good, intentional decisions that guide you toward your goals.

Great decisions lead to a great business.

Making Choices in Your Business

We’re faced with hundreds of business decisions daily. For example:

• Which project to start first?
• How far down the social-media rabbit hole do you want to go?
• Should you outsource some work on a project that’s steadily expanding?
• What customer resource management system should you use?
• Should you go with QuickBooks, or is there a better way to track expenses?
• What accountant should you hire?
• When talking to potential customers, should you follow a script?
• What’s your elevator pitch? Is it too long? Too short? Does it cover everything?
• When do you call the potential customer you met at last night’s dinner?
• How much should you budget for advertising?
• How will you juggle two conflicting deadlines from two different, yet important, clients?
• Should you dedicate time to answer email every morning, or just get to it as soon as you can?
• Do you offer a package deal or loyalty discount?
• Would a subscription model work for your customers?
• Do you take a mindful lunch break to renew your mind, or work through it to get a project done?
• How much should you reinvest in the business?

That might look like a long list, but it’s just the beginning!

You deal with a never-ending string of decisions on a daily basis. And they must be made whether the decision is to put them off or deal with them right away.

Every moment you’re making decisions, and it’s an endless cycle that continues until the end of time.

If you’re making the right decisions, this isn’t a problem.

What’s the “right” decision? The path to the right decision is alignment.

Your decisions need to align with:

• Your goals – Both short-term and long-term goals should reflect in your daily decisions and a clear path to both will help ensure your decision-making process is sending you in the right direction.
• Your previous and future decisions – All your decisions must be in alignment and agreement so they steadily support and catalyze each other.
• Your values – Your decisions should automatically reflect your core beliefs, your values and the way you approach business.

Alignment in your decision making gives you a solid foundation and impetus for fast growth and better profits—and in less time. Making consistently aligned decisions has a huge impact on the health of your business.

Ready to Implement?

Now that you know how important it is to make aligned decisions, how do you start making these new decisions, so they become habits?

Like any business model, to implement a change effectively, you need a strategic plan to follow.

Creating a strategic plan might seem like a massive (and dull) undertaking, but it is actually quite simple and eye-opening.

What if I told you that your strategic plan should fit on just a single piece of paper?

You’re basically creating a broad outline of what you’re looking to accomplish, and how you’ll accomplish it.

Your strategy includes your mission statement, a list of your values, description of what you envision for your business, long- and short-term goals, key metrics and all the processes or systems that need adjusting.

With this simple, one-page plan in place, decision making can become the center of your attention as you work to optimize the processes driving your company.

If you need a little help in creating your plan and getting started, click here to see the original posting of this article and enter your email to receive a free copy of my strategic plan checklist.

Now, go make some great decisions!