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How Regret Could Be Your Secret Weapon To Success

(5 Steps To Successful, Strategic Decision-Making)

Written by Adrian Petrie, September 6, 2019

Use this trick if you want to make faster decisions in your business!

To be successful in life, you'll need to get used to making quick decisions, and subsequently making mistakes along the way. Business is a fast-paced game, and only those prepared to make some tough calls will survive. Speed is the key, so you'll need to find balance between researching and taking action if you want to avoid being paralysed by mountains of information.

So how do you make informed, quick, strategic decisions, whilst minimising the risk of making the wrong choice?

Let me show you...

Step 1: Identify Your Goal

Before you can go anywhere, you'll first need to know what you're trying to achieve. Prior to starting your research, you need to clearly identify your objectives and be specific in your targets.

What are you trying to achieve?

At this stage, it's not about how realistic your goals are, nor trying to figure out how you're going to get there - you just need to know where you want to go first.

Step 2 - Clear Your Head

Once you know what you're trying to achieve, the next step is to get your mind right before you go any further. When you're clouded by emotion or stress, your decision-making capabilities are significantly impacted. A study from Marquette University in 2017 found that acute stress can:

Cause humans to lose sight of the benefits of taking a particular course of action.
Force us to make decisions from a place of habit (make decisions based on previously learned outcomes), rather than making goal-oriented decisions with our objectives front of mind.
Impair our recollection of key information, that would otherwise be used for making appropriate strategic decisions.
Increase our risk-taking tendencies if the decision has a potential financial gain.

By clearing your mind and remaining calm, you're more likely to avoid making impulsive decisions which can be detrimental to you long term. Take a breath and relax before you tackle any significant decisions.

If you're like most of us and find this step difficult, consider reaching out a trusted friend or engaging with a consultant who understands your situation. I recommend speaking to a person who is external to the set of circumstances, so they can look at the problem and potential options clearly and objectively.

Step 3 - Do Your Homework

Once you've cleared your mind, it's time to start doing some research. You'll need to be well-informed if you wish to increase your chances of making the right choice, so be prepared to do some homework. But remember, this step can't go on forever. The objective here is to gather enough information to make an informed choice, not to spend too long in the pursuit of perfection.

You're going to want to research:

Your competitors: what products or services are the competitors within your industry offering? How do they position themselves in the market? What do they provide their customers that you don't? Why would a consumer choose their business over yours? Assess your competition through the eyes of a potential customer.
Market information: when conducting your research, you need to find answers to the questions that the market is asking. What is it that consumers actually want? Speak to customers within your industry, attend industry events and survey potential buyers. What do they like, and what's important to them? What burning desires do these people have? What are their pain points that keep them awake at night? What solutions could you offer them that would provide them the most value? Get out of your own head and let the market dictate to you what it wants.
Your customers: this is where you'll start to look at the numbers behind your business operations. Look for statistics, facts and figures wherever possible here. Compare your financial results, such as profit and loss. What areas of your business are performing well, and what areas are under-performing? What are the potential reasons for this? Assess where your company is investing its resources, and if those investments are generating the highest ROI possible. What products or services do your customers love the most, which generate the most profits? (i.e.: what 20% of your business produces 80% of the results?)
Your employees: it's important to be mindful of your employees at all times when you make strategic decisions in business. If you're to get the decision right, you need to put your staff first, with your customers a close second. Egos and insecurities will need to be left at the door for you to get this right. When you look after your employees, they'll look after your customers. Research what technologies you can invest in to make their jobs easier. How will your proposed decision be received by your employees? What is the risk of your proposed course of action to your employees? What alternative options would you have available to you that could be more beneficial for your people? Basically - is the juice worth the squeeze?

Step 4 - Rate Your Options

So how much research is enough research? At what point are you well-equipped enough to make a strategic decision?

The truth is, there's no such point. Eventually you'll need to cut through the noise and just make a judgement call - you'll need take action as you see fit. Don't be afraid to involve other people in this process if you're unsure yourself. I love to involve my friends, family and closest colleagues in tough decisions so I can gauge their thoughts and perspectives. Often they have ideas that I hadn't considered myself.

Whatever you do, avoid procrastinating on your decision for too long. Putting tough decisions in the "later" pile will only make it harder to choose the right option as each day passes.

Jeff Bezos believes that decisions should be made "with around 70% of the information you wish you had. If you wait for 90%, in most cases, you're being too slow." "Get comfortable with uncertainty by staying flexible after the decision is made," and "become a master of quickly recognising and correcting bad decisions," Bezos goes on to say. "If you're good at course correcting, being wrong may be less costly than you think, whereas being slow is going to be expensive for sure."

If it's good enough for the richest man in the world, it's good enough for us! Make well-informed decisions quickly, with most of the information you wish you had - not all of it.

Step 5 - Evaluate The Call

Once you've made your decision, the last step is to assess the outcomes of your choice, and determine if it was the right move or not.

How are your customers responding? How is staff morale after the decision? What is the market telling you about your new course of action?

When assessing your decision, it's important to remember to give yourself sufficient time to collect enough data. Don't be tempted to deviate from your new decision too quickly, just because you don't see immediate results. Success take time, and some decisions will only reap benefits in the long-term. But you'll never know if you jump ship too quickly.

But That's Not The Secret...

If you've read this far, you now know how to make successful strategic decisions for your business. But there's one piece of the puzzle remaining; one secret that could change it all for you...

And that's regret.

Most people fear regret, but when leveraged in the right way, it can become your secret weapon to success. Let me explain...

A trick I like to use when making tough decisions is what I refer to as The Regret Method.

This strategy allows me to consider what life would be like if I went down one pathway instead of another. The opportunity that I'd regret not taking the most, is the choice that I should be making.

When you're stuck at a crossroad and you're torn about which direction to take, the Regret Method allows you to imagine what your life would be like if you chose both options. It's a way of imagining which scenario you'd regret not taking more, if you decided not to take that specific action.

Let me give you an explain.

Let's pretend you're deciding whether you should invest your time into servicing Client A or Client B. You can only service one client at this point in time, so you need to make sure you get this decision right.

Client A is going to be troublesome for you. They're a tough client to work with, extremely demanding, and also a little bit rude. They'll take you away from your family, and your sacrifices for this client will go unnoticed. They don't care about you - they just want results. It's mentally taxing working with these people, but the risk comes with high reward. Whilst this client is demanding, their high expectations mean they're willing to pay for the best.

They've engaged with your business because of your growing reputation in the marketplace, and you'll be rewarded with a premium fee for your service. You can't charge this sort of money with other clients, but you also wouldn't have to work as hard with those clients either. Choosing Client A could really put your company on the map, but you'll be pushed to the limit, and your family will have to pay the price too.

Client B, on the other hand, is a much smaller customer and won't bring you the same financial rewards. They will, however, be much easier to work with. This client shares similar values to you, and you get along well with them. They've been a good client of yours for a while now, and you always feel proud of being able to help them. They're kind people, and they genuinely appreciate your efforts. The work you'll do for Client B is truly meaningful to you.

So Which Decision Should You Make?

Using the Regret Method will allow you to imagine what your life would be like if you chose Client A, and what it would be like if you chose Client B.

If you chose Client A and were pulling 100 hours a week, earning a tonne of money and putting your company on the map, BUT, you hated the people you were working for - would you regret not choosing Client B? Would you regret not choosing a customer who has been good to you for a long time?

Alternatively, if you chose Client B, would you be less stressed and able to spend more time with your family, BUT, would you be stuck sitting at home on a Friday night because you couldn't afford to take your family away for the weekend? Would you have missed your opportunity to work with one of the biggest clients in your industry and possibly change your life? Would you regret not choosing Client A?

There's no perfect scenario for working with either Client A or Client B, so you need to make your choice on a balance of what's most important to you. How would you feel selecting either option, and how would you feel if you chose the opposite? What would be worse to you? Whatever you feel you'd regret not doing more, then that's the option you should choose, my friends.

Everything in life is a choice, and only you can make the decision that is right for you. By following these 5 steps, mixed with the secret ingredient of the Regret Method, you'll place yourself in the best position to make the right strategic decisions for you and your business.

To your success,

Adrian

Adrian Petrie is a Best-Selling Author who helps businesses grow through Digital Marketing and Management Consulting Services.

He is an expert at building, scaling and motivating high-performance teams, and believes that the number one asset of any business is its people. This is why he's passionate about leadership and helps his clients to get the best out of their staff, with proven, easy-to-understand methods.

If you want to learn how to engage your staff to drive exceptional results, or if you need help attracting more leads into your business, contact us today to request a free strategy session.