The Cost of Indecision in Your Business (and What to Do About It)
We’re faced with so many choices in our day-to-day lives.
Small ones such as deciding what to eat for dinner or what to watch on Netflix. Big ones like moving somewhere new or pivoting your business.
While some decisions are harder to make than others, many of us struggle with indecision at every level. And unfortunately, indecision can negatively impact your business.
If you face indecision in your business and want to improve your decision-making approach and attitude, read on below.
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Indecision can worsen when avoiding your data
Your instincts are an important tool as a business owner. You likely use them to hire new team members, take on new clients, or expand your offers. While your intuition shouldn’t be ignored, it also shouldn’t be used to make all of your business decisions. Our gut feelings are sometimes unreliable and difficult to explain.
Instead, I encourage you to use your data.
Data is central to nearly every choice you make for your business. How do you identify promising leads or improve the traffic to your website? How do you know whether your marketing efforts are really paying off?
Your data will tell you, and it will help you figure out your next best move. And even if you’ve never based your decisions on data before or feel uncomfortable with numbers, you can always start now. The more you look at your data when making decisions for your business, the easier it gets.
Indecision can lead to doubting your decision-making skills
The more you put off making decisions, the more you lose confidence in yourself and your abilities. Maybe you avoid making a choice until the last minute, or you have someone make a decision for you.
It’s normal if this happens once in a while, but if indecision of this kind constantly pops up in your business? It’s a problem. You may not think there are any consequences to this type of indecision, but there are! Whenever you let indecision take the lead, a choice is still being made for you.
Your time runs out to take hold of an opportunity.
Your money gets wasted on a strategy or tool that doesn’t get you results.
Your business loses out on a potential new client.
If you don’t feel confident in your decision-making skills, a little “fake it until you make it” can help in this case. Sometimes a change in your perspective makes a big difference. Start small, using your data to make choices, and don’t give up. You’ll notice your confidence grow.
Indecision can stem from fear
Fear is a big factor in indecision. Whether it’s from a lack of self-confidence, a lack of experience using business numbers, personality, self-esteem, or struggles with numbers in childhood…fear can make indecision even worse.
If you overthink your options all the time, get caught up in “what-ifs,” or get overwhelmed by other people’s opinions, you likely suffer from this kind of indecision. You freeze up at the thought of making a choice because you don’t want to make the wrong one.
And this can cost you. Not just financially, like we’ve already discussed, but it can harm other aspects of your business.
Being too indecisive can cause clients to lose their faith in trust in you. It can kill your momentum and slow down progress toward your goals, not to mention your everyday projects. It can frustrate your team and lower morale.
Getting to the root cause of your fear is the solution here, because you can then think of ways to handle it. If you listen to too many people’s opinions, let yourself ask for advice from one or two people tops. If you tend to overthink, let your business data ground your thought process.
Make informed decisions with confidence — using your data
Oftentimes, the first step in dealing with a problem is to acknowledge the problem exists. I hope this blog helped you pinpoint why you face indecision in your business and why it’s important to overcome it.
Whether your indecision stems from not using your business resources, a lack of confidence, or fear of making the wrong choices, you can combat it — and its costly effects on your business — by using your data. Use your data to support the choices you make for your business, rather than make an uninformed, rushed decision. Or no decision at all.
Overcoming indecision can take time, but remember that you’re certainly not the only business owner who struggles with it. You can do this. Lean on your business numbers and stick with it. Making decisions will become easier with time and practice.
