7 key questions to ask yourself before making a big change

The power of having elemental belief

Installing a backyard pool with hot tub, upgrading to a bigger house, buying a sports car, starting a new hobby, opening another location, moving the business to another part of town, changing the company logo, having another child. Over the course of life and business, decisions need to be made. And society associates success with growth.

Which trigger is the right one to pull? When should we pull it?

Comfort can be had in knowing that some ‘no’ decisions are just as important as the ones we say yes to. Just as we navigate a path by selecting certain trails, we navigate a path by not selecting others.

Resisting temptation to grow and being sensitive to the concept of taking on too much or taking on tasks that are less like the ones we already have in play bring opportunity and risk. The right growth sets up future success. The wrong growth stretches our elastic too thin.

Rejecting something is equally as important as accepting something along the path to carving our future. The decisions we do not act on reinforce our developing identify, just as those that we act do on.

How can we say no with less stress?

Confidence in our model brings decision-making ease. When we understand our identity and our mission, we can better navigate which cards to play and which to decisively fold.

Seven key questions to ask yourself before making a big change:

•        Is the change a tangent to our usual business model, potentially sabotaging our current philosophy?

•        Does the change bring tangential, hidden costs?

•        Will the initial work onboarding the change cripple our current resources?

•        If we lose with the change, can we revert back to our old way?

•        If we lose with the change, will it eliminate the progress we have made to date?

•        Are we making a move because it is needed or simply because it is nice to have?

•        Is this an ego stroke or do the benefits truly outweigh the risk to our overall mission?

At the next corner, consider saying no first and see what happens. If it is meant to be, the opportunity returns. What if we said no to being able to waive our fees, what if we said no to allowing the public to verbally abuse staff, what if we said no to accepting less money or days off, what if we said no to bingeing Netflix or evening snacking or social media doom scrolling.

Saying yes is easy and creates stress downstream. Saying no is hard and creates freedom later. Saying no takes belief in ourselves. Sometimes the best decisions in life are the ones we say no to. 

What is belief?

A foundational understanding of who we are, what our teams are made of and what got us here serves as fuel to continue. This depth of self-awareness leads to trust when unprecedented challenge exists and an understanding of how to adapt within our ever-changing industry. Believing in oneself pushes away jadedness and assumes internal best intentions when results go astray.

In the next article: a karate story demonstrates the importance of systems mastery.