In life we all make decisions on a regular basis. Some decisions decide  how we spend an hour or two, others impact the route our life will take. Most decisions are time bound,  as we reach deadlines, pressure starts to build. This is that moment in time when those who are well prepared will be in a position to make much better decisions than those who make impulsive decisions that may “feel” right at the time. I do believe that most of us are able to relate to decisions that would have been made differently, if only we had been better prepared. I remember quite vividly one such decision, I was hiring someone to take care of an administrative role in one of my portfolio companies. We were under severe pressure to manage our paper work and were desperately looking for someone to help distribute this load. We ended up making a rash decision, this caused further disruption in our work because we were not specific enough about what we wanted. I have made several such errors in the past and  do my best to learn from each one to avoid making them in the future.

The fact of the matter is that it is easy to make an impulsive or emotional decision. It almost feels ‘right’ in the moment as well as temporarily removing decision making stress. However if made incorrectly the repercussions are far worse. Therefore whenever one is making a decision that will bring about a significant change in life, it is important to evaluate it from all angles. We need to have a clear focus of how this decision will  impact our life and whether it is something that we want. As difficult as it may seem, we have to balance our emotions and logic in such scenarios. We have to do our best to make a decision with the bigger picture in mind. At the same time, we have to ask ourselves whether this is a decision that we would be able to live with, even if things do not work as planned.

I may sound as if I am trying to remove the element of risk from decision making. I wish I could do that at times, but I am aware that is not possible. The point that I want to drive home in this post is that we need to take time out to really think about decisions we want to make. There has to be a balance of emotion and logic. At the same time, we need to remain flexible and not let the process of decision making paralyze us for fear of making a wrong choice. Sometimes, we have to make tough decisions in life, these are not easy. But that is life….all we can do is to make sure that we spend as much as required to make an educated decision rather than an impulsive one.