What happens when everyone you ask for advice on a topic gives you a different answer?
Do you actually now; having asked your best BFFs and peers in the workplace, have the information to make a “good decision”?
My experience in coaching clients is that indeed the answer is “NO”. Even with all this advice and perhaps research and a book or two or an audio download you are no more able to make the decision than you were when it presented itself.
What is that about?
The answer is more simple than you may imagine. You are in a state of paralyzed due to information overload.
You’ve heard the phrase: “…a confused buyer, never buys…”? The say is true for information and decision making. When is enough information and opinion enough for you to say: “….okay, I now have enough, I will reflect and decide?” My guess here is either this is an internal switch that is on auto pilot or you do not have any idea when enough is enough.
Let me ask you, when do you remember your first decision? Maybe it was a trip to a local ice cream store and you were given the task of deciding which flavor you wanted in your cone.
Perhaps it was the racks of back packs for school and you were in charge of choosing the one which was within the family budget and met your needs as a student.
With each decision you make you set into place parameters for making decisions and this forms your foundation for many other decisions that you will make in life.
As you grew up you had two very powerful things in your life which determined this: your role models (typically a parent or parents) and your influencers (typically a pop icon, singer, media personality or the kid who ruled your grade level). As we mature these two roles are filled by new people such as peers, friends, social acquaintances, people we admire in our business or in life, sports figures and so on. One of the things I coach people on is if my client has a “role model” or an “influencer”, I typically ask: “What do you know about this person really?” Do their beliefs and character and behavior outside the public arena match your beliefs, character and behavior?
There are some things that align and more often than not, many things that do not align at all. I then ask: “….so how is this person holding so much of your decision making hostage, if you are not aligned in your thinking?” This sparks a lively discussion around all sorts of topics.
I say this to alert you to the quest that you set out on daily: to find the answers and make great decisions.
Know who is influencing you.
Know who is a great role model to follow.
Who are you letting into the private recesses of your mind?
Who is influencing you today?
