My Thoughts
The Decision That Nearly Ruined My Business (And What I Learned About Making Life-Changing Choices)
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Standing in the boardroom at 2:47 AM on a Wednesday in March 2019, I realised I was about to make the most expensive mistake of my 18-year consulting career.
The decision seemed straightforward enough: expand our Brisbane operations or consolidate everything back to Sydney. Simple binary choice, right? Wrong. Dead wrong. What I discovered over the next six months completely changed how I approach every major decision - both business and personal.
The Problem With How Most People Make Big Decisions
Here's something that'll probably annoy the self-help crowd: there's no perfect formula for life-changing decisions. I've seen consultants throw around fancy frameworks like they're gospel truth, but the reality is messier than any LinkedIn post would have you believe.
Most people fall into one of three camps when facing major choices. The analysers who research themselves into paralysis. The gut-feelers who make impulsive moves based on "intuition." And the procrastinators who avoid deciding altogether until circumstances force their hand.
I was definitely in camp number one. Spreadsheets for everything. I once spent three weeks creating a decision matrix for choosing which coffee machine to buy for our office. Three weeks! My team still takes the piss out of me for that one.
Why Big Decisions Feel Impossible (But Actually Aren't)
The interesting thing about major life decisions is they rarely come with instruction manuals. Should you take that job in Perth? Move back home to care for ageing parents? Start your own business? End a relationship that's comfortable but unfulfilling?
These choices feel impossible because we're trying to predict an unpredictable future. It's like trying to navigate Sydney traffic during peak hour without knowing about unexpected roadworks. You can plan all you want, but stuff happens.
What makes decisions truly difficult isn't the choice itself - it's our relationship with uncertainty.
I learned this lesson the hard way during our expansion debacle. We'd done market research, financial projections, competitive analysis. The works. But what we hadn't factored in was a global pandemic hitting six months later. Nobody could have predicted that timing, yet I spent months beating myself up for "missing the signs."
Newsflash: there weren't any signs to miss.
The Framework That Actually Works (Most of the Time)
After nearly two decades of helping organisations navigate complex decisions - and making plenty of my own disasters along the way - here's what I've learned actually works:
Start with your non-negotiables. Not your nice-to-haves or maybes. Your absolute deal-breakers. For our expansion decision, my non-negotiable was maintaining our company culture. Everything else was secondary.
Consider the reversibility factor. Some decisions can be undone, others can't. Taking a job in another city? Mostly reversible. Having kids? Not so much. The reversible ones deserve less agonising time.
Apply the 10-10-10 rule differently than everyone teaches it. Most people ask: "How will I feel about this in 10 minutes, 10 months, and 10 years?" That's backwards thinking. Instead ask: "What would I regret NOT doing in 10 years?"
This shift in perspective is huge. Regret for action fades much faster than regret for inaction.
When Your Gut Disagrees With Your Head
Sometimes all the analysis in the world points one direction, but something feels off. I used to dismiss this as emotional nonsense. Now I pay attention.
Your gut isn't some mystical oracle - it's your subconscious processing information your conscious mind might have missed. When there's a conflict between logic and instinct, that's worth exploring rather than dismissing.
During our Brisbane expansion talks, every financial model said "go for it." But something felt wrong. I couldn't articulate what. Turns out my subconscious had picked up on cultural fit issues with our potential local partners. Issues that would have caused massive problems down the track.
Trust your analysis, but don't ignore persistent gut feelings. There's usually something there worth investigating.
The Myth of Perfect Timing
"I'm waiting for the right time" is often code for "I'm scared and making excuses." Perfect timing is like perfect weather in Melbourne - if you wait for it, you'll never leave the house.
Good timing exists. Perfect timing doesn't.
I've watched countless people miss opportunities waiting for ideal conditions. The woman who delayed starting her consultancy until she had enough savings (she never felt she had "enough"). The man who postponed proposing until his career stabilised (it never did, not completely).
The best time to make most big decisions is when you're 70-80% ready, not 100%. That last 20-30% often never comes anyway.
Why Some Decisions Matter Less Than You Think
Here's something that might surprise you: many big decisions are less permanent than they appear. We've been conditioned to believe life is a series of irreversible forks in the road, but that's largely mythology.
Career changes aren't permanent. Geographic moves aren't permanent. Even some relationship decisions aren't as final as they seem. The real tragedy isn't making the "wrong" choice - it's staying paralysed by fear of making any choice at all.
I know successful people who've switched careers four times, lived in six different cities, and started over multiple times. The common thread isn't that they made perfect decisions - it's that they made decisions and adapted when needed.
What About The Really Big Stuff?
Some decisions genuinely are life-altering. Having children. Caring for elderly parents. Major medical decisions. These deserve different treatment than career moves or relationship choices.
For these genuinely irreversible decisions, slow down. Seek multiple perspectives. Consider <a href="https://groundlocal.bigcartel.com/product/stress-reduction-Brisbane">stress reduction techniques</a> to clear your thinking. But don't let the weight of these choices paralyse you indefinitely.
Even with permanent decisions, you still have agency over how you respond to consequences.
The Hidden Cost of Decision Avoidance
Not deciding is still a decision. And it's usually the worst one.
I see this constantly in business - organisations that spend months deliberating while opportunities disappear. By the time they're ready to act, the market has moved on. Competitors have taken position. The moment has passed.
Indecision is expensive. More expensive than most "wrong" decisions.
The stress of ongoing uncertainty often exceeds the stress of dealing with consequences of choice. At least when you've decided, you can start adapting and moving forward.
Making Peace With Imperfect Outcomes
Here's what nobody tells you about major life decisions: most outcomes will be mixed. Not completely good, not completely bad. Just... mixed.
The job that's perfect except for the commute. The city that's great for your career but terrible for your social life. The relationship that's wonderful but requires compromise you didn't expect.
This isn't failure - it's reality. Perfect outcomes exist mostly in our imagination.
Learning to find satisfaction in imperfect but "good enough" outcomes is a crucial skill. Otherwise you'll spend your life second-guessing every choice and missing the benefits of decisions you've already made.
For major decisions involving workplace dynamics, sometimes investing in <a href="https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/workplace-abuse-training-tickets-886307077327">workplace training</a> can provide clarity on interpersonal elements that factor into your choice.
When Time Is Your Enemy (And Your Friend)
Time pressure creates urgency but kills perspective. When you're forced to decide quickly, you'll likely focus on immediate concerns and miss longer-term implications.
But time also provides clarity. What seems impossible today might feel obvious in six months. Sometimes the best decision is to buy yourself more time to think - assuming that's possible.
The key is distinguishing between deadline pressure and decision readiness. They're not the same thing.
I've made good fast decisions and terrible slow ones. Speed isn't the determining factor - clarity of values and understanding of options is.
The Role of Other People's Opinions
Everyone will have thoughts about your major decisions. Family, friends, colleagues, that bloke at the pub who's never met you but somehow knows what's best for your life.
Listen to people whose judgement you respect and who understand your circumstances. But remember: they don't have to live with the consequences. You do.
The loudest voices are often the least helpful. People who've never faced similar decisions love giving advice. People who have usually ask better questions instead of providing answers.
Sometimes learning better <a href="https://coregroup.bigcartel.com/product/time-management-perth">time management</a> skills helps create space to make decisions without external pressure.
For our Brisbane expansion, I listened to too many people who'd never run a business giving definitive advice about business strategy. Massive mistake. The best insights came from other business owners who asked probing questions rather than offering solutions.
What I Got Wrong (And What I Got Right)
Back to that 2:47 AM boardroom moment. We decided to pause the expansion and consolidate our Sydney operations instead. Six months later, COVID hit and that decision probably saved our business.
But here's the thing - it wasn't brilliant foresight. It was luck combined with following our non-negotiables around company culture.
What I got right was having a clear decision-making process. What I got wrong was thinking any process guarantees perfect outcomes. There are no guarantees. Just better and worse ways to navigate uncertainty.
The expansion we delayed? We did it eventually, in 2022, under completely different circumstances. The original timing would have been disastrous. The later timing worked beautifully.
Same decision, different context, completely different result.
The Truth About Living With Your Choices
Every major decision involves trade-offs. The opportunity cost is real. The path not taken will always have some appeal, especially when your chosen path hits rough patches.
The goal isn't to avoid regret entirely - it's to live with purpose despite uncertainty.
Some of my best decisions looked terrible for the first year. Some of my worst decisions felt brilliant initially. Time reveals truth gradually, not immediately.
Moving Forward When You're Still Not Sure
Perfect clarity before deciding is a luxury most real-world situations don't provide. You'll often need to move forward while still uncertain.
That's okay. That's normal. That's human.
The alternative - waiting for certainty that never comes - is worse than making imperfect decisions with incomplete information.
Start somewhere. Adjust as you learn. Trust yourself to handle whatever comes next.
Because ultimately, that's all any of us can do.
This article originally appeared after I spent three hours explaining to my wife why I couldn't decide which Netflix series to watch. Some decisions really aren't that complicated.