THIS IS WHY CxOs FEEL STRESSED OUT!

A recap of the week:

• DON’T FORGET 2004: A book review
• SCREW THE 1%: A short note
• DON’T FOCUS ON ONE THING: A 60 second video

THIS IS WHY CxOs FEEL STRESSED OUT!

(Applicable to all of us too!)

WHY do you and I feel frustrated?

Questions that some of us face regularly:

• Should I go with this design or one of the three others?
• Should we give this price or go back to the older one?
• What do you think about recruiting this person over that person?
• Which shade of colour looks better?
• Oh, I worked on it and sent all the options to you for review and approval. When will you revert?
• Which restaurant should we go to? What should we order? How should we go there? Who should we take with us? How should we invite?

Questions. Options. Choices. Decisions. All land up in the CxO plate.

Why?

People get paid to MAKE DECISIONS!

Yet, the cover-my-ass mindset

and "You're the boss" attitude 

ensures that members DESIST from making decisions.

It is so much easier for someone else to decide!

When all such decisions pile up on your table, welcome to the stressful world of

DECISION FATIGUE.

At the beginning, there is vanity. 

"Oh, I am so important, the whole world is coming to me."

That will soon change to...

Why is the world coming to me?

The answer is simple.

Because YOU allowed it!

What is the alternative?

Empower the members to make decisions in their domain.

AND REFUSE TO ANSWER.

Tell them openly.

Tell yourself continuously.

As an outlier entrepreneur,

You steer the ship.

Which direction 

is the only decision you ought to take!

Train the team to own up

* To make decisions

* And take the responsibility

* That goes with the authority

Not all are capable of making decisions

Such people will UPWARD DELEGATE

And inundate folks with multiple choices.

Train them as well.

AVOID DECISION FATIGUE.

Save your limited time and brain power

For truly effective decisions - in your realm,

Suiting your role.

***

Quite a few Psychological factors at play here that you should be aware of:

DECISION AVOIDANCE: To escape the discomfort of making choices, individuals procrastinate or shift decisions to others.

To do: Fill up your reporting heads with people comfortable with making decisions!

COGNITIVE LOAD: The human brain has a limited capacity for processing information. With too many decisions to make, the load increases. This load leads to mental exhaustion, stress, irritation, AND ERROR-PRONE Decision making.

To do: Push back. Strongly.

CHOICE OVERLOAD: Too many options, too many decisions, and too many things piled on will cause Decision Paralysis. When each issue is not given the necessary time, it leads to poorer decisions. A series of bad decisions can cause self-doubt to creep in, and that's a negative cycle to avoid!

To do: Reduce options. Make it easier to decide.

#OUTLIER #differentiation #psychology #social #community #marketing #lessismore #outliermarketing #pointofdifferentiation #painpoint

I am an outlier marketer and a raconteur.

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