In one of my books, I spoke about the importance of timing, especially in taking decisions. How much does it cost us, NOT to take a decision or taking a decision too soon or too late; Each one of us experienced the following statement at least few times: You take 1 hour to take a decision to do something that actually take 10 minutes to execute… and NO, the 59 Minutes Spent were not for Brainstorming and Planning :).

It’s totally true in relationships, but it’s more general towards handling opportunities….  How many times you thought that an opportunity that presented itself would just stick there waiting for you to make the first move (on any move for crying out loud)?

It’s wise not to be foolish in taking a decision without thinking it over, but it’s foolish to stay wise all the time and take no risks whatsoever.

This week’s tip is about calculating the ratio of time-hesitating over time-doing and checking the impact:

What’s the Nolite Timere equation?

Well, beside the fact that I just came up with the naming which translates into “Don’t Worry” in Latin, here’s the equation:

NT = Time Spent Deciding / Potential or Actual Time Spent Executing 

if NT is equal to 1, in most cases you’re breaking even, but it’s not exciting for the task.

if NT is Greater than 1, then you’re wasting too much time. Imagine you’re spending 60 minutes trying to figure out if you should take a shower that will take you in total 10 minutes?

Obviously, NT should be Less than 1. meaning that the Time spent deciding should be less than the potential or actual time spent executing.

The rule of thumb in decision making, is the order… You first need to understand / estimate how long a task needs to be done before taking a decision about it… Because if it takes less than 2 minutes to be done… Then you need to DO IT otherwise you will need to take a decision to Differ it to another time (scheduled), or Delegate it to someone else or Drop it from your list. And those are called the 4 Ds of Decision Making.

Enjoy your week!

Cheers,
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Samer Chidiac is a Sr. Strategist, Author & an International Innovation Expert.

The Monday Tip Weekly blog is part of the “Influencing the Life of Others” project