At risk of splitting a hair too many times…
There are a variety of decisions we all need to make, yet there is one category, if simplified even further, may ease our burden with all the decisions we face.
They’re simple, but can be very hard to make:
- Yes / No
- On / Off
- Go / No-Go
51%…
The obvious simple reality is that we only need to be 51% in favor of one direction or the other.
Achieve 51% certainty and our decision is made.
That may be true in theory, but to feel better about our decisions,
we may want to give ourselves a safety margin of say, 10%, 20%, 30%.
That means having enough information, experience and wisdom to being at least
60% or 70% or 80% in favor of our choice in order to make the decision.
I suspect that the “paralysis-by-analysis” occurs due to the perception that we
need 100% certainty to make a simple yes or no, or go / no-go decision.
If we can agree that 100% certainty is unrealistic and most likely impossible,
we must therefore be satisfied with something less than 100%.
For the perfectionists among us, this may pose a problem.
I can imagine that for some they must have 100% certainty to feel comfortable moving forward.
And you’re stuck — no decision.
Get over it and let go.
Some relief does come from the fact that we can at least reach a
tipping-point well into the realm of a clear-enough decision.
The only way to gauge this for ourselves is far from scientific or mathematical,
but if it’s good enough — in your gut — even though it may be less than 100% certain,
but somewhere north of 51%, it’s a likely good bet that it’s a good decision you can go with.
Make it and move on.
I hope you found this bit of Business Black Belt wisdom useful!
