Futurist Jim Carroll"Make difficult decisions sooner. (Even when you don't want to)" - Futurist Jim Carroll
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Futurist Jim Carroll is writing a series, The Art of the Infinite Pivot, based on 36 lessons from his 36 years as a solo entrepreneur, working as a nomadic worker in the global freelance economy. The series is unfolding here, and at pivot.jimcarroll.com.
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At one moment in time, I had Google Claude analyze the thousands of blog posts I've written since 2002, to try to come up with a list of the unique phrases I've come up with through the years. It came back with a massive list. and called them "Jim'isms." I'm pretty proud of the list, since these phrases often capture the essence of the ideas I share with my clients and readers.
The one I am proudest of is probably the one with which you are most familiar: "aggressive indecision." I coined it back in 2002 to describe the tendency among my clients to make the tough decisions that need to be made, particularly when uncertainty reigns.
And it led me to believe that the most dangerous words in any business or life are, "Let's wait and see."
When we wait, we fail. We might tell ourselves we are being prudent, being cautious, but usually, we are just being hesitant. In my 36-year voyage, I’ve learned that the difficulty of a decision doesn’t decrease with time: it only compounds. To stay ahead of the curve, you must learn to make difficult decisions sooner, especially when you don't want to.
Every successful pivot I’ve made in my career and business required me to cut ties with something comfortable but declining. Whether it was walking away from a stable career path or sunsetting a keynote topic that was still "doing okay," the hardest part identify8ing what I needed to do. It involved actually doing it.
As humans, we are engineered, it seems, to avoid the tough decisions. And yet often, that's the only way to get ahead!
The simple fact is this: if you wait until you are forced to make a decision, you aren't pivoting; you’re reacting.
Making decisions sooner -m even when you don't want to - is the antidote to aggressive indecision. Most organizations and people stay stuck because they treat difficult choices like a burden to be avoided rather than a strategic advantage to be seized. By making the tough call early, when you still have resources and momentum, you control the future to the extent you can. If you wait until your hand is forced, the market (or the crisis) controls you.
Don't let the weight of a difficult choice paralyze you.
Make the call.
Futurist Jim Carroll believes that 'aggressive indecision' is the root cause of most failure.
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