Making decisions for your future can be really difficult, can’t it? When it involves a degree of risk, a substantial amount of finances and/or the possibility of failure, it can be hard to make a decision.

Much of the angst around decision-making is because we want to make the ‘right’ decision. We want to make sure we ‘cover all bases’ and have answers for every possibility to reduce the risk of failure.

But have you considered that perhaps there isn’t always one right decision? Quite often, there could be a number of directions to head, and more than one of them will be the ‘right’ thing to do. Sometimes, it may be that a decision you made ended badly, but the lessons you learnt from it, and the direction you took because of it, resulted in a much better outcome than your original idea. Often it comes down to taking action: indecision can be more crippling than a ‘bad’ decision.

A tried and true method for decision making is to list the pros and cons of your decision: what will I gain if I do this? What will I lose if I don’t do this? When you have done this, ask a trusted person to read your list. There is a high likelihood that they will look at some of the disadvantages you have listed and challenge you about them. Often what seems like a big deal to us, is not so big when viewed in a wider context.

If some of the items on your ‘cons’ list are related to fear of the unknown, you need to cross those ones off immediately! Letting fear dictate your decisions will result in inertia or poor decision making. Talk to the people who can give you all the practical information you need (for example, your accountant) and then weigh up your options. Listen to your gut instinct: it has gotten you this far in business and it will take you further again!

Michelle Grice writes a weekly column for business women in The Western Weekender

I have to be honest: this is a ‘do as I say, not as I do’ article this week! This time of year is always insanely busy for me (as it is for most of you I am sure!). As a result, I end up working late at night and consequently, I am not getting anywhere near enough sleep. Aside from the obvious negative effects of a lack of sleep (being tired and cranky!), did you know there are also some quite serious health problems that can result, such as heart disease/heart attack, high blood pressure, stroke and diabetes? There are also serious consequences for your business. Sleep plays a critical role in thinking and learning. Lack of sleep affects attention, alertness, concentration, reasoning and problem solving. So if you are attempting to make decisions, either for the short term or longer term, lack of sleep will impact on the effectiveness of those decisions. Lack of sleep affects your ability to remember what you’ve learnt and generally makes you forgetful. Memory storage occurs mostly when we sleep. Importantly, lack of sleep can affect our interpretation of events and impacts on our ability to make good judgments. You may unwittingly be making decisions that are not the best choices for your business. You are likely to waste time because you are not alert and you also increase the likelihood of mistakes and accidents. It seems that we can convince ourselves that we need to stay up late to meet a deadline and that it won’t have consequences beyond a grouchy demeanour the next day. But looking at the evidence above, it is a great deal more serious to have a regular pattern of sleep deprivation. So hit the pillow!

Michelle Grice writes a weekly column for business women in The Western Weekender