Why being decisive is scary; fear of failure, fear of hurting others and lack of information
Three good reasons being decisive is scary
While I was struggling with the decision to leave my job and change the way I worked an interesting article popped up on LinkedIn by Paul Petrone. The article was about the LinkedIn Learning course Acting Decisively, by LinkedIn Learning Instructor Dorie Clark.
Paul provided an overview of the three main reasons people aren’t decisive at work and how to overcome them. These reasons not only resonated for my work life but they made perfect sense for my personal life too. Ultimately the article made me want to be more decisive about changing my career. Anyway, here's what I learned from the article.
1. Fear of failure
"Being decisive is scary"
- Dorie Clark
No kidding Dorie!
I was scared for weeks when deciding to leave my job and change the way I worked. The article says the reason we don’t make decisions is due to fear of failure. However, it appears we’re more likely to fail if we don’t make a decision! The solution is to make conscious decisions, learn from them and be ready to make another decision.
2. Fear of hurting others
"Being decisive means you might hurt someone's feelings"
- Dorie Clark
As a general rule we don't like hurting people's feelings so we struggle with decisions that will. In my case my decision to change the way I worked was hurting my own feelings. The solution is to be proactive with decision making. The longer you leave it the more hurt is caused (to yourself and/or others).
3. Lack of info
“Being decisive means deciding without all the information"
— Dorie Clark
It’s tempting to delay making a decision until we have all the information we think we need. But we can spend way too long searching for it. The solution is to be specific about the information you want, how long it will take to get it and then decide whether it’s worth the delay.
What I've learned
Failure can come whether you decided to change your career or not. Making a conscious decision means you’ll have a better chance of succeeding.
Struggling to make a decision about your career can hurt both your own and others feelings. The sooner you decided the sooner the pain will stop.
You may not have all the information you want, but you probably have enough to make a decision. The information needed for future decisions will only come after making your first decision.
