How to Make Better Business Decisions - A Guide for Entrepreneurs
As an entrepreneur, you’ll be faced with hundreds of decisions a day. Fatigue can kick in very quickly. After all, there’s a reason why Steve Jobs chose to wear the same outfit every day – one less choice to make.
Here’s how you can learn to make better business decisions in the scary and exhilarating world of entrepreneurship.
Let Go of Your Ego
Poor business decisions are often made when you let your ego take charge. Instead of doing the right thing, you end up doing what you want, and that can sometimes backfire.
Learn how to shut down your ego. Make decisions based on what’s best for the business rather than what’s best for yourself. Think less about how people will perceive you and what they might say behind your back. Look at the big picture, and not just the short-term results.
Learn to Work through the Fear
When you’re about to make a difficult decision, you’ll naturally start to feel some fear. This is just your mind’s way of trying to protect you from the unknown or the potentially dangerous.
In order to make better decisions, you’ll need to learn how to embrace this feeling. Don’t stop when the fear shows up. Take pause, acknowledge the feeling, and think logically. Don’t let emotions take over the decision-making process.
Never Stop Learning
If you want to make better decisions, you can never stop amassing knowledge. The more you know, the easier it will be to make the right choice.
Make a habit of reading books, listening to podcasts and talking to fellow entrepreneurs. Start following experienced investors on Twitter, and absorb some experience through your feed. Fill your brain with as much new information as you have the time for, and choose subjects that will make the most impact on your business goals.
Gather as Much Information as Possible
The best decision can only be made when you’re in possession of all the relevant information. If there’s a piece of the puzzle missing, you may make the wrong choice, simply because you were partly left in the dark.
Depending on the importance of the decision, take as much time as possible to gather as much information as possible. Make sure all the data is correct, as fresh as possible, and pertinent to the decision at hand.
Establish a Decision-Making Framework
A decision-making framework is a structured approach to choosing A or B. There are numerous frameworks you can use for different situations.
Take some time to figure out what works best for you. How do you approach a problem best? What are the routines or steps you need to field? Test out different methods, and once you find the one you prefer, deploy it every time.
Make the Biggest Decisions First
Decision fatigue is a mental (and often emotional) strain that comes from having too many choices. The more choices you have to make, the more difficult it will get.
To avoid this potential pitfall, make the most important decisions early in the morning. This does not mean you shouldn’t think about them though. Just that you should think them through in the early parts of the day.
Schedule calls and meetings early, too, and go through your inbox in the morning.
Limit the Number of Decisions You Make
Unless you plan to be a solo-preneur, make sure to delegate as many of your decisions as you can. They can be the simplest possible ones, like what kind of paper to get for the printer. The fewer choices you have to make, the better they’ll become.
Make sure to also establish a system of decision importance. Everyone around you should have a clear understanding of which ones they can handle on their own, which ones need to go to whom, and which ones only you can make.
Write Down Potential Solutions
Sometimes you just need to get rid of all the thoughts and opinions swirling around in your head. Write down every potential solution or idea you have. Add all relevant thoughts and brain waves you have for each of them. This will help you think more clearly.
Once you have a list in front of you, you can make better decisions based on merit. You can take each option and walk it through all the potential results and obstacles. Write down a mini roadmap of the steps you’d need to take and the potential outcomes. Choose the one that best balances benefits with costs.
Wrapping Up
Don’t expect yourself to make all the right decisions. Mistakes and errors in judgment are simply a part of an entrepreneur’s bread and butter. Learn how to overcome them instead of trying to prevent them.