A fast decision-making process is critical to many businesses needing to move quickly to seal and secure profit. Competence in fast decision making is also important if you are aspiring to career greatness. Leaders are often distinguished by their ability to make effective decisions at the speed of light.

If you have been struggling with making decisions because you need more time, you’re indecisive, you over-analyze, or you have a perfectionist syndrome, here’s a guide to a faster decision-making process that can help you get laser focused results in a shorter amount of time with much less effort.

Focus on the Goal

Understand the objective of the decision to be made. What is the end result that you are hoping to achieve by making this decision? Having a clear end goal in mind can remove much of the ambiguity and uncertainty affecting your decision-making skills. Evaluate all the pros and cons of individual decisions in terms of how they affect your ultimate goal.

Time It

If your decision making is generally a long drawn-out affair, train yourself to make, small, low impact personal decisions more quickly than you usually do. Your decisions can include, for instance, what to wear, where to eat lunch or where to meet your friend. Impose a time limit. Aim to make your decisions in 2 minutes or less. Setting a deadline forces you to think on your feet. Once you’ve gained comfort, you can start to apply the same strategies at work.

The Value of Your Gut

Never ignore the voice of your gut. Gut feelings arise out of learning experiences from having undergone similar situations in the past. Evaluate your gut response for merit and take this into account as part of your decision making.

Be a Delegation Superstar

A fast decision maker can often be distinguished from the rest of the pack by his ability to delegate. Include team members that count in the decision-making process and empower them to make decisions impacting their area of responsibility. But before you do this, ask yourself whether they have the necessary set of skills, knowledge, and authority. Be prepared to provide mentorship if needed. As an added benefit, it helps to train subordinates to take on higher responsibilities which in turn boosts their confidence and loyalty and lessens your overall workload.

Controllable vs Uncontrollable Variables

It is futile trying to control every minute variable involved in your decision making. Hence, it is necessary to be aware of what is in your control and what is not and to self-assess as to whether what you can control has been fully accounted for. Once a decision has been made, evaluate results over the long-term and mentally note what could be done better for next time. Also, prepare yourself to change or modify decisions as needed to overcome temporary setbacks.

Self-Discipline as a Means to Achieve Success

Habit formation is only as good as the amount of self-discipline that goes into it. Being able to make faster decisions requires consistent effort daily before it starts to become more natural, spontaneous, and effortless.

Manage Stress

Resist the urge to be perfect and train yourself to switch off once decisions have been made. Unnecessary analysis paralysis or obsessive daily reviews cause anxiety and stress, both of which can negatively impact your health as well as your ability to work effectively.

Follow these tips to achieve a faster decision-making process that can get you real results quickly and effectively.

A coach can also help you to develop your ability to make decisions more efficiently for your particular business.