Not financial debt.
Decision debt.
I first heard this term listening to the Life Coach School podcast with Brooke Castillo (which I heard about listening to Michael Hyatt).
I love the term because it encapsulates in two simple words the main source of much of the stress in my life, historically: Putting off decisions in hopes that the perfect resolution will come that makes everybody happy and that will remove any possibility that the decision will be wrong or lead to failure.
In other words, putting of decisions waiting for the unicorn of making the perfect decision – or worse, putting off the decision in hopes the thing will sort of take care of itself. Bad move. Problems typically don’t die over time.
The Perfect Decision is very seldom an option. And even if it is an option, you often have to make a couple screwy decisions to get enough clarity that you can finally make a perfect decision.
The key to getting out of decision debt is to start making decisions.
Decide. Take action. Learn. Iterate as needed. (Rinse and repeat)
Climbing out of decision debt is all about being willing to use decisions and actions to gain greater clarity.
Just like Dave Ramsey talks about getting out of financial debt with ‘gazelle like intensity’, getting out of decision debt works best when you make quick, small decisions that compound in a positive direction over time.
Do not wait for problems or situations to resolve. Do not allow decisions to pile up like emails in your inbox.
As a matter of practice, use your inbox. Practice making quick decisions about what to do with things that aren’t that important. Delete the email. Delegate it. Go ahead and buy the thing. Make the phone call. Put the date in your calendar.
Get out of debt. One decision at a time.
