Written By:  Jay Kubassek

For most of us, it’s obvious that the bulk of the decisions we make on a daily basis are based upon the summation of our previous experience. Then combined with some sort of reactive observation. “That looks hot, I once was burned, don’t touch it.” A rather simplistically calculated decision to a situation, correct? There are a lot of philosophical explanations to this phenomenon, (of which I have no desire whatsoever to regurgitate.) However, the idea of understanding, evaluating and augmenting our decision making process, is quite possibly one of the most effective, yet difficult things to do.

As entrepreneurs, we are consistently confronted with decisions, both minute and large in scope, that will severely affect our bottom line one way or another. These decisions usually carry with them some sort of emotional impact that is equally important (we are not robots after all…not yet at least), and making decisions that seem contrary to our emotional compass (outside our comfort zone) is a discipline that we all must cultivate.

The nature of the entrepreneurial attitude puts us in unprecedented situations constantly. Sometimes I find myself so far out of my comfort zone it makes me sick to my stomach. Circumstances that I have no frame of reference or prior experience of. How do we make sound decisions in times like these…?

What we must do mentally is not as difficult as it may seem. It simply requires us to embody an objective stance. A third party perspective so to speak. This does not mean that we divorce our prior experience and emotional compass from our decision making process. But we, as human beings, are highly capable of turning these situations into opportunities for mental growth. It simply requires us to stop projecting, or interjecting our personal bias, or past experiences upon the current dilemma. We must assess the situation logically and objectively, and then act accordingly with the best information on hand at the time. At that point you have to then trust that the best decision was made, and stick to your guns.

This doesn’t require any special skills, or crazy amounts intelligence. We all have a natural intelligence within ourselves that is only hindered by, well, bad habits and programming. Bad habits can be changed. Many of us are introspective by nature anyway, but you must take the time to consciously make the habitual changes that you seek. This is hard work. Learning something new can seem daunting, but the reality is when you engage yourself mentally, you usually discover something you already know.