You know how children comes home from school and suddenly they have all kinds of metaphors. My son suddenly started saying: “I just have to do it; I don’t have a choice”. As I heard this, I immediately wanted to dive into how you always have a choice, how you choose your destiny and how every choice has a consequence. I am a mother after all, you have to grab every opportunity to teach your children, right?

Instead I went another route, I asked him: “Did you decide whether you want to do that?" For a 10-year-old that might not be an easy question to answer but for an adult, it should always be the first question you ask yourself. Because if you didn’t make a decision then the outcome will be influenced.

Of course, you can turn towards the option that if you tell yourself you JUST HAVE TO DO IT in certain situations. When courage and determination is required. A good example of this would be when you like a girl/boy as a teenager and you just have to build up the courage to talk to them or ask her out. Or when you really have to talk to your boss about getting a raise. Yet, again, it starts with a decision. You have decided that you “have to “ approach that boy/girl and that you need more money to live your life and therefore you have to talk to your boss, right?

In all the years I have been in management I found that when I have to decide on a strategy to solve a problem or move forward to achieving a goal, I battled if I had too many “What IF” or “Maybe” options to choose from. I formulize a strategy far more effective if I just make a decision and then put that into a plan, put the plan into action and evaluate my progress. A good example of this would be when I plan events, something I do quite often in my scrapbooking business. I decide on the theme of the event first. That way I can “build” all my plans and actions around that.

In business the same principle is effective, think about this scenario (to get new business):

What if you could list the top 20 clients that you want to do business with and put ONLY them on your prospect (I like to call it my HIT) list;

Instead of just randomly working from your calling list, now identify the TOP 5 you would really want to bring onboard;

Once you identified those top 5 prospects, concentrate on doing research about them: What are their challenges, how can you solve their problems, what can you offer them that nobody else can, how can you add value, etc. Make sure you know everything there is to know about them;

Next you have to make sure that you get in front of the prospect and use all the knowledge you have gained about them to your advantage. And GET the sale!

This whole process started with DECIDING who you want to target and then refining that into a strategy. It all started with a DECICION. As everything in life does.

My motto is “JUST make a decision and then DO it”. Have you decided to take the questionnaire to see if you need a coach yet?

Get in touch with me now to book your free session.

Antoinette Venter, ActionCOACH Business Coach
antoinetteventer.actioncoach.com | antoinetteventer@actioncoach.com