This one question is perhaps the most powerful one in any business owners arsenal. No matter what your anxiety tells you, the majority of tough business decisions aren’t permanent ones. For example, we had a business coaching client who was struggling with a big equipment purchase. He was going back and forth about whether to buy a $500,000 piece of manufacturing equipment that would triple his productivity. So I challenged him to think about the worst-case scenario.
He paused for a minute and then replied “Well, As long as we take care of the machine, I should be able to sell it for about 90 percent of what I paid for it new.”
When faced with a big decision, you may be struggling because you lack all the relevant information needed to make that decision. So, by asking this question you are forcing yourself to look at the information presented and seek out the answer. Usually once this barrier is lifted, the decision will come easily.
Avoid procrastination by giving yourself a hard and fast deadline in which to make a decision. Putting off a new hire or equipment purchase to expand can have lasting effects on your business, so create a plan to make a decision and stick to your timeline.
This past year I had a business coaching client who was having trouble pulling the trigger on a new hire. She was worried about making the right decision, and whether her pick was the perfect fit for her company culture. I asked her: “is this hiring decision reversible?” She paused for a moment and then realized that although painful, it was.