Green Lights Don’t Last Forever

Decision making is not for the faint of heart.

Perhaps, right now, you're entertaining leaving a partnership, firing a staff member or starting a new venture.  Maybe you've been in a spot before where you've had to decide whether or not to invest money, time or resources into something.  Big decisions usually revolve around starting, stopping or continuing. I know you've been there.

There are some decisions we find ourselves wrestling with day after day - making the weight of decision making distracting, exhausting and frustrating. And likely, if you're making a big decision, you ain't making it alone…dumping on the extra weight of collaboratively making a big decision - cue the confetti?

I'm not trying to make light of making big decisions, but it really is HEAVY, HARD WORK. When we are constantly, day after day, carrying around all of our options and letting the undecided situation linger, we will find ourselves exhausted, irritable and (often) unable to make a good decision. If you are a leader in any capacity, I'm sure you can relate. You may find yourself making big decisions that impact many, but you may also be the go-to resource for helping others make their big decisions. That. Isn't. Light. Work.

So, here's a strategy that may offer you some relief as you wrestle with, and make, big decisions.

Every day cannot be decision making day. Every day cannot be explore the options day. Every day cannot be talk about the decision day. So, we've got to put parameters around making decisions. We must define the windows of time we are willing to entertain the decision and make the decision. And if it's not that specific window of time - we've got to stop draining our energy into the decision.

GREEN LIGHT: Your green light day is the time you have set aside to actually MAKE THE DECISION.

YELLOW LIGHT: Your yellow light days are the days in which you've decided to entertain the options and lay out the facts.

RED LIGHT: Your red light days are EVERY other day that aren't yellow or green. These red light days are the days you practice self-control and stop worrying about the decision and the options. You know the yellow light and green light days are coming, so you redirect yourself (and others) to waiting on those days for the work.

We cannot let every day be a green light day. We cannot let every day be a yellow and green light day. Can you imagine the chaos on the road if green lights lasted forever? Accidents.

A lot of them. On the flip side, if every light were always a red one we'd never get anywhere. Sitting ducks. There's a rhythm that allows us to safely get where we're going.

It really isn't okay to be distracted from the work by the decisions. I challenge you to really try this strategy over the coming weeks. Give yourself the freedom to have days where you don't make big decisions or help anyone else make decisions. I think you'll be surprised with how much progress you can make by not being sidelined by choices.