Here’s a stat for you today on decision-making
5 and a half hours.
That’s how long it took me to make some decisions and click those Purchase and Book Now buttons for a ‘little walking break’ for myself in April.
That’s 330 minutes on a Saturday, sitting in front of my computer, weighing up all the pros and cons for train times and an AirBnB.
19,800 seconds!!! And I only realised a few days later that I’d got my return train journey down from London wrong so I’ll need to tube it to Victoria rather than a minute walk from King’s Cross to St Pancras, AGH!
Why am I openly admitting to this painful amount of time spent trying to make decisions?
Good gravy, it shows that coaches aren’t perfect! I’m on my own journey when it comes to my money mindset and, for me and my working class brain, what I see as ‘big ticket’ spends.
We all have our own thoughts about money and what a ‘big ticket’ spend is. For me right now, as I develop my business, those ‘bigger than £100 but smaller than £1,000’ purchases are still fighting with my ‘everything needs to be driven for the purpose of the business’ sole trader brain.
So, I had a little talk with myself after that Saturday.
Firstly, my business is ME so I need to get into the habit of continually being kind to MYSELF. That doesn’t just mean a cheeky co-op choccie croissant on a Friday, it means saying YES to more regular breaks (part of that 5 and a half hours time spent was because I haven’t had a ‘proper’ break since April 2019 and I’d built it up in my head that it had to be a PERFECT break).
Second, there is no PERFECT especially not right now so I need to capture a bit of my more youthful thinking to “just do it” (sorry Nike!); those days when I saved up for travels and then just went! No stressing over how many reviews a particular AirBnB had (well, there was no AirBnB back then, just lots of gorgeously grotty hostels!) or whether there is a perfect, safest, least noisy train seat. Lowering my expectations isn’t a bad thing right now.
Lastly, good grief Suse, self-coach a bit more! I know this stuff! It’s stuff I work through with clients all the time! Next time (and there will be another ‘little break’ soon), I’ll think about what’s the easiest and quickest way to get these decisions made: what are my expectations, what can I let go of, what can I compromise on.
What’s this got to do with you?
Well, Making Decisions is a perennial topic for those of you who are my coaching clients. We talk about it ALL THE TIME! So,
- Yes, if you’re not a client of mine yet and you want to start making some decisions about your job, your life and get clear on what YOU want and how to get it, then take a look at my coaching journeys and get on a call with me!
- I’ve started sorting out my Resources page so it includes some handy-dandy resources and there right now is a great decision making tool, called Cartesian Questions. Go! Go! Go get it! Use it and then come back and comment on this post to let me know what you think!
What does making decisions bring up for you?
This time, for me, it’s brought up
- self-care and self-coaching
- perfectionism and planning
- expectations
- money mindset
That’s a fair old whack of stuff all bundled into making decisions.
So, over to you:
What decision are you trying and failing (or procrastinating over) to make right now?
- What’s your thought process?
- What have you considered and what are you ignoring?
- What’s behind your thought process?
- What are you skimming over?
- What are you overcomplicating?
Some questions for you to reflect on on this rainy and sunny April day.
