This is a guest post by Ian Nuttall, the decisive author of Leash Optional, a blog which explores unique and innovative ways to live an awesome life and achieve big results from small ideas. Subscribe now and follow him on Twitter. Ian over to you;

People struggle to make decisions every day. Sometimes they aren’t even important ones that will improve your life or the lives of others. In fact, most of the time we struggle to decide what we want for dinner let alone figure out a simple strategy for making money online.

James recently expressed a quandary over whether content should be Free or Fee and he was very indecisive about how he wanted to bridge the gap between his awesome (and very constant) free flow of content and selling information products to his loyal readers.

It got me thinking about how we struggle every day with indecision and how unproductive it can be.

Of course sometimes, doing nothing is the right decision as long as it is a conscious choice. Most of the time though, you just need to remove the shackles from your noggin and start deciding.

I used to be indecisive, but now I’m not sure

In an effort to help James, you, and myself – I’ve come up with a few simple (and possibly ruthless) ways to become more decisive and help you to actually achieve more without feeling overwhelmed.

Enjoy!

  • Just say yes. If you have a hard time making decisions of any kind, the best thing you can do to actually start making tough calls is to just say yes to every opportunity that is asked of you. Obviously you don’t have to break any legal, moral or ethical laws (it’s more fun if you do) but this can be considered the “ripping the band aid off” approach.You don’t have to do this forever though. It’s more like an exercise that gets you comfortable making decisions and saying yes. It will also give you some new and wonderful experiences that you otherwise might not have had. Next time someone asks you to go see a new band or help out on a DIY project or whatever else you might get asked – just say yes and see where the day takes you.
  • Take baby steps. If the thought of saying yes to everything is a bit of overwhelming then you can start a little slower if you’d like. Though not quite so ruthless, this one does work too. Start making really small decisions and offering choices up.For the longest time, when my girlfriend asked me what I wanted for dinner I would say “I don’t know. What do you fancy?“. She would then say “I don’t mind.” and we would be stuck in an unproductive and pointless loop for what seemed like forever. If I had just said “Fancy a bit of tuna pasta bake?” instead, we could have saved ourselves a whole load of wasted energy, eaten the best meal known to man and I could have gone back to ignoring her on my laptop!
  • Don’t conform. One of the big reasons we tend to be indecisive is because we don’t like to be judged. What if we make the wrong decision and people don’t like us for it? What if they think my decisions are rash and foolish? Stop worrying about what other people think of you. I see plenty of this both online and off where people have to be accepted. They have to be accepted to the point that they become indecisive purely so they don’t look bad to their peers.I say make stupid decisions, say stupid things and take bold, unproven actions. If nothing else you’ll stand out from the crowd, become the fearless warrior in your circle of friends and have plenty more enjoyable life experiences than the indecisive sheep sitting behind their desks bah-ing into a phone all day.
  • Know what you want. What do you want to do? Travel the world? Sell your information? Play the guitar? Learn a new language? When you know what you want, decisions get a whole lot simpler. In fact, when you have a clear vision of what you want to achieve – the decisions basically make themselves.James wants to make money selling information products and has been struggling with the decision of whether to charge for them now. He knows what he wants. The decision is already made. Sell your next product as soon as it is ready, test the results and then adjust as needed. Job done.
  • Stop worrying. Don’t overcomplicate things and worry about what might be. Focus on the here and now and what is – decisions will come to you much more readily that way. I used to worry all the time. Am I doing the right thing, have I got the skills to become successful, would I make more money doing y instead of x?When I took my mind out of the equation and focused on the facts of what I want and how I’d get there, I taught myself to push my feelings aside and endure the challenges no matter what. Without worry there is only excitement and opportunity. You’re not as big a loser as you think you are!

Now is the time to stop procrastinating and to start taking action. (This means you too, James!)

What decisions have you been struggling to make recently? Answers in the comments and let the Infopreneur community help you banish your indecision once and for all.

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Filed under: Guest Post • Motivation • Starting Out • Useful

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