Making Good Decisions

Hello! David J here again bringing you more of the steps on my journey toward financial independence.

A bit of wisdom came my way recently. I feel it is important that everyone understand this properly: one of the differences between successful people and others is the way they make decisions.

It is said that successful people make decisions quickly, and change those decisions only very slowly. By contrast, less than successful people make decisions only after a lot of hemming and hawing (intentional reference to "Who Moved My Cheese?"), and can easily be swayed from that decision.

That's really only partly true.

Some folks DO make decisions relatively quickly. They may stop and think for a moment, consider it over a lunch break, sleep on it, etc. but in the end the decision is made within a day or so. Typically, this occurs when deciding on what actions to take, if any, in regard to something about which the person has knowledge, or something with which the person has past or repeated experience. That is, they know what to do and how to do it, they only need to weigh the decision and consider whether doing it is advantageous given their immediate circumstance.

Now, some folks will cite this quote in trying to get you to do something you may not be prepared to do, like spend a bunch of money on a seminar or home study course when that really might not be a sound financial decision for you at the time.

UNDERSTAND: The person pushing you has a private agenda! They want your money. Whether or not the decision is sound for you likely does not enter into the scenario from their point of view. They came to that moment for sole purpose of selling their product.

Jarom Adair has this on his website: the wealthy appear to make decisions quickly and then staunchly maintain their chosen direction.

However, as we just discussed, this is an appearance only. When any person has the knowledge and experience to reach a decision quickly regarding any given scenario, it is exactly because of their knowledge and experience that they are able to quickly get past the "FUD" (Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt) and move on to the decision making process without much debate. They already know what must be done. They've done it before and they understand the risks and benefits of acting or not acting, as the case may be.

When someone is pushing you to make a decision where you're obviously experiencing discomfort about it, they are very likely to pull this "gem" out of their bag of tricks in an effort to appeal to your desire for success in the face of "FUD". That is, they turn your own apprehension against you.

True, it is all just part of the selling process.

Remember to recognize that it *IS* all just part of the selling process, and you'll be able to arm yourself against it. Especially when it comes to real estate investing, seminars and home study courses: you're standing on the threshold, about to enter a realm where you may only have limited knowledge and understanding. This can work against you, and the sales people are trained to exploit that about you.

To truly be like a successful person - and, ultimately become the successful person we all want to be - make decisions in your OWN time for your OWN reasons.

Some decisions become routine, and those we will learn to make "quickly", perhaps even as quickly as whether to turn right or left at a given intersection, based on where we wish to go. Others we must first study so that when the need for a decision arises we can make an educated choice, even if we've little or no experience from which to draw confidence.

In my earlier post, So Many Gurus, So Little Cash, my advice is to listen to as many free webinars as you can find and sign up for. I'll expand on that to add a recommendation to soak up all of the free information you can find, and there's lots of it to be found with a bit of searching on "the web".

This will at least arm you with some knowledge and allow you to make a better decision.

We'll talk again soon!

Take care - be well!

Much Success!