Over the past week, I’ve noticed my own tendency to sit on the fence and try to keep all of my options open indefinitely, and nobody has any respect for that.  More importantly, though, it doesn’t work.  I’m starting to realize that this may be one of the most crucial aspects of running a business – the ability to make a decision quickly.  I have a lot of decisions in front of me to make right now, and there’s no time to teeter on the fence.  I don’t see that this is ever going to change.

I’ve also noticed that I have a hard time breaking bad news to people, or telling people “no.”  I have a tendency to be afraid that they’ll take it personally.  But let’s face it: that’s their problem.

This showed up in my dilemma between Starbucks and Biscuitville.  I was hoping to take a leisurely 30 days to sit on the fence and consider every single variable before deciding which one to go with.  I learned very fast that it wasn’t going to work that way.  They weren’t going to tip-toe around each other and they weren’t going to compete for my attention.  I just haven’t built up that kind of relationship yet.  But that’s beside the point.  It hit me that I couldn’t possibly look at all the variables in any amount of time; there will always be factors I haven’t considered.  I would just have spent a month thinking myself into a tizzy, only to find myself still sitting on the fence at the end.

I’m in the same boat with Realtors right now; I need to quickly choose which Realtor will list my house.  So, I’ve decided to invent a new decision-making process.   What I’m going to do is interview a bunch of them, ask every question I can think of, then take a step back and see what my gut says.  Then I’ll wait 24 hours and see if I’ve had any new insights, while making an effort to keep my thoughts occupied with something else.  If my gut still says the same thing, I’ll go with that.  I’ll let youze know how it goes on Thursday (24 hours after I’ve talked to the last Realtor).

One last thing: I notice myself saying “I have to mull this over” or “I have to think about this” a lot.  So, I’m also going to make a deliberate effort, whenever that thought comes up, to list the specific concerns, missing information, or other considerations that are in my way of making a decision just to get it out on the table.

You can’t get it wrong. That’s one of the things I have to keep reminding myself of. You can’t do the wrong plan, you can’t do it the wrong way, and you can’t talk to the wrong people. You can, however, run into a number of surprises.

One of the most common frustrations for out-of-the-box entrepreneurs, such as introverts, is that it’s easy to get frustrated. The tried and true methods of doing things don’t appeal to us, so we like to reinvent the wheel. We may have to break a few more eggs in our omelet than traditional businesses do. It tempts us to quit more than usual.

So, when I feel like something’s not working, I realize that I probably haven’t given it enough of a chance. I also step back and take a look at the big picture. There are successes, and there are learning experiences that lead to successes. There are no failures. It’s as simple as that.

Why do we all think that being committed means doing everything the hard way? Where did we get the idea that we have to suffer to be successful?

If you ever need a good success model, take a look at water. Water is really smart stuff. It follows the path of least resistance and it gets where it’s going. It doesn’t make excuses, it doesn’t quit, it doesn’t have self-esteem issues, and it doesn’t make to-do lists.

When it encounters a boulder, it doesn’t break through it (not usually anyway). It goes around. It’s not concerned with being right. It’s not concerned with conquering or vanquishing anything.

It just flows.

That’s what commitment is like.