Tough Decisions

Tough Decisions

“Good judgment comes from experience,
and a lot of that comes from bad judgement.”
Will Rogers

In business and in life, we come across lots of opportunities. Most of the time, they are fairly straightforward. Sometimes, they’re not. And when that’s the case, though they may look good, something may not feel quite right.

When that happens, I use my acid tests, and for a good reason–to make good decisions, for myself and others. Furthermore, this eliminates the temptation to talk myself into it.

So you might give this a try. Ask yourself these three questions, and you’ll generally get the answers you already knew before you asked the questions.

• Would I do this for my mother?
• If my decision regarding this was on the front page of the L.A. Times tomorrow morning, and all of my friends, family and clients were to see it, would I be happy or upset?
• How does my silent but really reliable partner, namely, my stomach, feel about this?

These are yes/no questions that take our ability to rationalize a bad decision out of the equation. Give it a try, you just might save yourself a lot of trouble.