Your ability to make decisions under pressure can boost your professional success. Your challenge is having to block out a lot of distractions in order to focus on what you need to do.
In this episode of our Productivity at Work series, you’ll learn how you can approach making decisions under pressure with a strategic process. These are simple, yet powerful changes you can use right away.
What Productivity Questions Does This Video Answer?
- How to make decisions under pressure?
- What can you do to avoid perfectionism?
- How can you prepare for high pressure moments at work?
Video Transcript for How to Make Decisions Under Pressure
Are you good at making decisions under pressure? Do you need a minute? While I’m a big fan of planning, sometimes you just have to make a fast decision and it can be stressful because it may be out of your comfort zone.
So think about these things the next time you have to make a decision about something really quickly.
First of all, really focus on what are the results that you want and what’s the easiest way for you to get there. This is not a situation where you necessarily brainstorm a lot of ideas on a whiteboard.
You want to be as focused on a solution as possible.
Next, don’t worry too much about perfection. Perfection takes a lot of time. While it’s good to aim high, sometimes good enough or, okay, is perfect because it fits the time constraints that you’re under.
So don’t worry about having everything be perfect. Focus on having everything be done. The good news is, when you’re putting this situation where you have to make a decision quickly, over time, you’re going to build up your decision making muscles.
A final benefit of having to make quick decisions: It’s that you’ll become more strategic about your time. It can be disruptive to suddenly have to drop everything that you’re doing to address some sort of decision.
The good news is that over time, you’re going to realize, certain tasks, you can knock those out of the way, very early in your day, freeing up time, giving you some breathing room, if and when some sort of big decision comes up.
If one doesn’t, hey, you’ve got some extra time for your other tasks.
Give these strategies a try.
About Ken Okel
As a motivational keynote speaker, Ken Okel works with leaders and organizations to boost productivity, performance, and profits. At conferences, conventions, and company meetings, he engages audiences with new ways to maximize their time at work. To see a sample of his corporate and association keynote and breakout presentations, visit his video page.
