Inside My Business #9

Hi Reader,

Indecision Is Expensive

This week I've been reminded just how expensive indecision can be!

We've had a major project sitting on our to-do list for months. In truth, it's something we've been considering for years.

Earlier this year, we finally decided to go ahead with it. We had a generous lead time to get everything done, so we thought we'd take our time and do it properly.

And that's exactly what we did. Took our time! 😂

Weekly meetings, endless discussions, lots of what-ifs and plenty of reasons why we couldn't quite move forward yet.

We were making progress, but painfully slowly.

Until Tuesday.

We finally sat down, looked at the options and committed to a date.

Just three and a half weeks away!

And almost overnight, everything changed.

All the faffing about stopped. Conversations that had gone round in circles for weeks suddenly became much more focused.

What needed doing? Who was going to do it? What resources did we need? And what could wait?

We put together a proper project plan, allocated responsibilities and started moving at a pace we hadn't managed in months.

The funny thing is, nothing significant had changed.

Same project. Same people. Same resources.

Just a deadline.

This Week's Lesson

1. Deadlines create focus.

Without a firm date, even important projects can drift.

This project mattered to the business. We knew it needed doing. But without a line in the sand, it kept slipping down the list behind whatever felt more urgent that day.

There was always tomorrow. Or next week. Or after we'd sorted out something else.

The moment we committed to a date, it became a priority rather than another item on our never-ending to-do list.

2. Progress beats perfection.

Before Tuesday, we were trying to get everything just right before making the move.

And there's the problem with perfection. There's always another detail to refine, another potential problem to discuss, another reason to wait.

Once we set the date, the question changed.

Instead of asking, "How do we get everything perfect?" we started asking, "What absolutely needs to be in place for us to make this change safely?"

That changed everything.

We could suddenly distinguish between what was essential, what was desirable and what could be improved later.

We weren't lowering our standards. We were getting clearer about what actually mattered.

3. Decisiveness unlocks resources.

This one surprised me.

For months, Casey and I had been approaching this as something we needed to lead and largely manage ourselves.

But once we committed to the deadline, we started looking at who else could help.

And there they were!

People within our own team who had the skills, experience and capacity to take responsibility for different parts of the project.

Nothing about our team had changed. We'd just finally organised ourselves to use the resources we already had.

Sometimes, as business owners, we make ourselves the bottleneck without even realising it.

The hidden cost of indecision

Here's the part I keep coming back to.

When a project drags on unnecessarily, you can end up paying for it twice.

First, through the actual time, money and resources it consumes while it limps along.

And then through everything else it quietly takes from the business.

Your attention. Your energy. The opportunities you don't pursue because your mind is occupied elsewhere.

For months, this project had been hanging over us. We knew it needed doing, but we kept finding reasons not to commit.

That created a low-level stress that never really went away.

Now we've got pressure. Quite a lot of it, actually! 😂

But it's a different kind of pressure.

We know what needs doing, who's responsible and when it needs to be finished.

It's focused and purposeful.

And strangely enough, I find that much easier to deal with than the constant uncertainty we had before.

We're not over the finish line yet, but we're making more progress in days than we were previously making in weeks.

And the biggest change happened before we'd completed a single new task.

We made a decision.

Three things I'd encourage you to try

1. Give that drifting project a real deadline.

Not "before Christmas" or "sometime next quarter". An actual date. Put it in the diary, work backwards and see what needs to happen.

2. Decide what must be ready and what can wait.

Don't compromise on safety, quality or compliance. But challenge whether everything on your wish list genuinely needs to be completed before you can move forward.

3. Stop assuming everything needs to come through you.

Look at the people around you. Who has the skills to help? What could you delegate? Who could take ownership of a particular part of the project?

You might be surprised how much capacity you've already got.

📌 This Week's Takeaway

Sometimes the thing holding your business back isn't a lack of resources, time or capability. It's simply the decision you haven't made.

We haven't completed our project yet, so I can't tell you how the story ends.

But I can already tell you that making the decision has changed how we're managing it.

And if we'd given ourselves another two months?

I suspect we'd have spent most of that time doing exactly what we were doing before.

Talking about getting ready!

Your Turn

What's one decision you've been putting off in your business?

And what might happen if you stopped waiting for the perfect moment and committed to a date?

I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Next time, I'll take you inside another part of the business.

P.S. Ready to build a business that doesn’t depend on you?

If this has got you thinking about your own business, I’d love to help.

I’m offering a complimentary Care CEO Strategy Call, where we’ll look at where your business is today, what’s keeping you tied to the day-to-day, and the first steps towards building a team and systems that give you more freedom.