Fear Indecision More Than Failure

I’ve been thinking about this blog for 2 hours. How to frame the idea. What story to tell. Where the takeaways are. Another hour has gone by. And just now it hit me…

The real choice isn't just between path A or path B; sometimes, it's the very act of choosing that's in question.

Not choosing is, in itself, choosing ambiguity, stagnation and stalled results. Now I’m finally writing… 

Ambiguity by definition reads as uncertainty or inexactness. In my writing, this manifests as sitting here for a few hours without a blog. In business though, this manifests as a lack of clear direction (the larger your team, the more problematic). When decisions are postponed, we're essentially allowing ambiguity to fester. It probably feels like you’re safeguarding your enterprise from potential pitfalls, being responsible in waiting for all the information, or stalling to make sure you get it right. In reality, often all it is is allowing stagnation to set in. 

Think of it like being at a crossroads. Each path represents a choice, with its unique set of challenges and outcomes. By not choosing any path (ie, just continuing on doing what you’ve been doing), you're essentially setting up camp at the crossroads, going nowhere.

Making the wrong choice might lead to setbacks, losses, and challenges. But there's a Sterling silver lining. Each of these outcomes provides insights, learnings, and reflections. They guide us, recalibrate our compass, and often illuminate the right path more profoundly than if we'd chosen “correctly” in the first place. The mistakes we make, the lessons we garner from them, give us clarity. Even our errors provide a clearer roadmap than not choosing at all.

When we avoid making choices, we receive no feedback and make no progress.

Without feedback, there's no learning.

Without learning, there's no growth.

And for businesses, especially larger ones, stagnation like that is a silent killer. It slowly erodes innovation, morale, and market position. Choosing to embrace ambiguity, to allow decisions to remain unmade, is like sealing off the doors and windows to fresh insights and opportunities.

If you’re a part of the #NoMatterWhat Community, you probably already know the narrative here.

It’s either: I will _________________. Or, I will not _______________.

If you really want to supercharge it, add #NoMatterWhat to the end of it. Anything else after a period of time is nothing other than dancing in ambiguity with nothing other than more ambiguity in sight. We make decisions on information, not time. And making a decision will oftentimes give you more information than anything else. 

Of course there are reports, data and information you may need to collect before you can choose a path. But those around you, your team, your company, trust your leadership. Embrace that trust, not by always making the perfect decision, but by having the courage to make decisions, period.

Don’t let the fear of having to make the right decision dictate your future.

Fear indecision and you’ll learn more, perform better and create breakthrough results every time. You reading this final blog is a little proof. 

Key idea: Not choosing is choosing ambiguity: Not choosing gives you no further clarity because you’re in the same place

Takeaway: fear indecision more than failure