The Working Experience: Have a Rationale for Your Decisions
Matty Kerr is co-creator with John Brancaccio of The Working Experience. Listen to our podcast on iTunes and Spotify and visit our website: theworkingexperience.com for videos, merch and more.
Go with the flow? Sounds nice. Some people play the lottery too but I wouldn’t call that sound financial planning.
Any successful venture requires a plan and a plan requires you to make decisions before moving ahead. The problem is is that you are being asked to predict the future.
How do you know if a decision is good or bad, right or wrong?
It is very difficult if not impossible to know if a decision will work or not, especially if you are starting your own business or creative venture. The only thing you can do, really, is to make sure that you have a solid rationale for every decision.
I don’t think there are “good” or “bad” decisions. There are decisions that you can justify and ones you can’t.
You should be able to put the reasons for your decisions in writing.
“Well, I just thought that was the right thing to do.”
That is not a solid rationale for making a decision. Sure, there is value in gut instinct but you need to be able to explain WHY you thought it was the right thing to do.
Decisions need to be put in the proper contetx.
“That’s the way everyone else does it.”
First of all, it may seem that way on the surface but it may not be true. Second, you may not know all of the particulars of someone else’s business or project. Just because it works for them does not mean it will work for you.
Be honest and make your own decisions.
“__________________ told me I should do it that way.”
Getting advice can very valuable but you are responsible for the decision. Be honest and own the decision, good or bad.
It’s not all or nothing; give yourself some flecibility.
“God, that was a terrible mistake.”
Maybe a decision you make doesn’t work out the way you expected but maybe it wasn’t all bad. Maybe part of the decision was solid and the idea just needs some refining.
Don’t beat yourself up if it doesn’t work; move on.
Rethink, revamp, go back to the drawing board. This is frustrating and exhausting but it is really where you separate the winners from the losers.
