“One’s life is defined by the choices you make.“
That’s a quote from Jim Gavin, manager of the most successful Gaelic Football team ever. His team won 5 All-Ireland Championships in a row from 2015 to 2019. (Dublin also won in 2020 to complete a 6-in-a-row- but that win was under the management of his successor.)
We all make choices. And not making a choice is also a choice – a default choice to change nothing.
You’ve made big choices in your life. We all have.
And we are presented by choices every day – at work and in all other parts of life.
They can be big or small.
Easy or difficult.
Years ago, 2001 if I remember right, I did a project management exam. It was multiple choice – 200 questions I think. Some were no-brainers. With others the answer could easily be deduced. But the majority were difficult – because they presented 4 shades of grey, and, since the exam required a very high pass mark, avoiding questions wasn’t an option.
It’s just like that for you at work. If you avoid questions, you’ll suffer inertia. Nothing will progress. And inertia is fatal.
The problem is when it’s hard to choose isn’t it?
Sometimes you’ll have precedents to draw on. Or trusted colleagues who’ve dealt with the same variables.
But sometimes it’ll be just you, without precedents, needing to do something, but facing 2 or more shades of grey that are very close to each other.
And you’re in business. Not in government. You can’t commission some academics to do an analysis and produce a report for your consideration.
There’s no magic wand here.
If you are paralysed, literally unable to choose, do this:
Toss a coin, move forward, take action, and don’t look back.
Your action will have an effect. Will produce feedback. And you can then consider that feedback.
But it all begins with action. Without action there’s no feedback. No chance to assess. No chance to tweak/refine or even reverse.
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