“Indecision is the thief of opportunity.”
This is one of my very favorite quotes by Jim Rohn, who was an entrepreneur, author and motivational speaker. I love this quote because it reminds me all the time that being indecisive does rob me of my ability to pursue opportunities.
Should I go to the gym? Should I go now, or maybe I should go after work? Before I knew it, the day has ended, and my indecision kept me from ever getting to the gym.
As a sales person, should I stop in and see my customer, or shouldn’t I? Afterall, why should I stop and see them when I feel like they are not going to buy today anyway? So, I drive right by them and drive home or back to my office. Again, my indecision has robbed me of a potential sale and commission.
Sandler Training has a selling rule, it’s actually rule no. 4 in their book, “The Sandler Rules, 49 Timeless Selling Principles and How to Apply Them.” The rule states that: “A decision not to make a decision is a decision.” And when we combine the quote above, “Indecision is the thief of opportunity,” with the Sandler rule mentioned here, then we can easily see how our indecision is costing us opportunities all the time.
A decision to pick up the phone and call our spouse, a decision to send a text to a friend, a decision to get out to the grocery store before a potential storm hits, a decision to smile, a decision to get to work earlier beating the traffic, a decision to stay later to meet a deadline, and hundreds of other decisions can create opportunities instead of steal those opportunities from us.
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Opportunities to show love, opportunities to show we care, opportunities to be better prepared and not have to venture out in the snow, opportunities to have a relaxing ride to work, opportunities to feel accomplished by meeting a tough deadline, opportunities to make a sale, and so many more opportunities that we miss through our indecisions.
Bigger decisions require more thought, and that’s OK. But at some point, we must make that big decision. As a matter of fact, the more we think about it, the more variables we tend to put into the situation and then we add in some “what-ifs.” And all that does is lead us closer to indecision than toward making any decision at all. And when we think about it, not all, but most decisions we do make can be changed if needed and we did happen to make the wrong decision. We just make a new decision.
So how about you? Is indecision robbing you of opportunities? By not making a decision do you understand that actually is still a decision? I would love to hear your story at gotonorton@gmail.com and when we can make the right decisions and stop letting indecision get in the way of our opportunities, it really will be a better than good week.
Michael Norton is the president of the Zig Ziglar Corporate Training Solutions Team, a strategic consultant, business and personal coach and motivational speaker. He writes a weekly motivational column for the Vail Daily.