Make a Decision – And Stick to It

I was recently at a conference and had an ‘a-ha’ moment.

I realized that one of my business downfalls is sticking to decisions I make.

It’s easy enough to make a decision about something, but then the follow through for that is really the more important part of keeping the decision.

For instance, if you decide to do a certain marketing initiative in your business, what are your next steps?

Do you write it down? Tell someone? Set up a strategy?

Who holds you accountable to getting it done?

Making the decision is usually the part that feels most challenging, but it’s the rest of it that often makes things not work.

Here are my tips for how to make a decision, and make it work for you.

1. Make the decision – it can be whatever you need – large or small, but it needs to be a clear decision on something in your business. eg ‘I want to post more regularly to my Facebook page.’

2. Write it down – by writing your decision down, it makes it tangible. The best place to write it down is someplace you will see it every day – whether that’s on your computer, or on a sticky note, or on your bulletin board. Remind yourself every time you look at it.

3. Tell someone – if you have an accountability partner, let them know what your decision is. If you don’t, pick a colleague who can check on you and hold you accountable.

4. Set a deadline – put it on your calendar, so you can check in frequently to make sure that what you want to get done is actually getting done.

It’s not hard to move things forward in your business. It takes planning and support – you never have to do things alone – but you want to set yourself up for success, and it all starts with a decision.

Decisions and plans can turn into goals in your business, but it’s the every day decisions that will help us grow our business incrementally. It’s a good habit to get into – and a good decision to make!

What’s yours?

Image courtesy of Master isolated images / FreeDigitalPhotos.net.