Photo by Matúš Kovačovský on Unsplash

Some of them are easy and can be made in a split second. Others we wrestle with for days, weeks, or sometimes months and years.

We agonize over coming to a decision.

Yes or no? Should I or shouldn’t I? Do I leap or stay in place?

The thing is, when we don’t decide, we’ve made a decision.

This insight was an epiphany for me found in an Andy Andrews blog post. He refers to it here. https://www.andyandrews.com/episode-77-the-key-to-thinking-at-the-highest-level/

Andy said, “There is no such thing as a neutral choice. You are either choosing to do nothing or choosing to do something.”

And then last year in a church bulletin, I read the same premise in an excerpt from the Church of England’s A New Introduction to Moral Theology.

It read in part, “In human life, there is no neutrality. We cannot do nothing, for a choice is forced upon us…Neutrality in life is the same as negativity. In one way it is worse than doing wrong….”

When I receive multiple doses of the same message, I know I had better sit up and pay attention.

Using my examples and not making a conscious decision, the Yes/No morphs into a NO. The should or shouldn’t turns into a SHOULD NOT. And the leap or stay transforms into a firm STAY.

We’re just fooling ourselves if we feel we still have put off making a definite choice. We’ve already decided.

I’m not sure about your habits, but I can invent some clever ways to delay making decisions.

Yesterday, for example, was my personal deadline for developing a values proposition for my business. This was after I had “mulled it over” for a week.

Let’s face it: I’m a one woman business. There is no one to whom I can delegate this task. Who else knows the fill-in-the-blank answers to this template from Michael Hyatt/Platform University?

I am _____  (what role do I perform)

I help _____ (just who is my audience, my client base)

By _____ (how do I help them)

So they can _____ (reap the fantastic specific benefits I provide)

Of course I knew the answers. I had LOTS of answers! I just couldn’t make a decision on which ones to choose.

So instead of doing the work of decision making, I cleared out a bookcase for about an hour.

Then I remembered Andy Andrews and the Church of England.

I sat down and wrote my value proposition in less than twenty minutes.

Just for today, are you choosing to do something or choosing to do nothing?