Indecisiveness...

06.04.10

Indecision.

In terms of leadership, any area of your life wheel can so easily become crippled with indecision. Now, I’m not saying that impulse is the way to go… though I am definitely prone to this vice. But I am saying that a decision must be reached, in order for judgment calls to be made. I am challenged with the idea of “making decisions up front,” so as to not have refigure the pros/cons every time, independently. For instance, if I make a decision up front / proactively that I will not leverage debt for any business gain, then when the time comes to upgrade equipment, or purchase a new delivery vehicle… the decision is a foregone conclusion.

Similarly, in my marriage relationship with my wife, if I make the decision up front to pray every morning with her before leaving for work, then the act of doing so becomes a natural habit.

I’ve recently devoured a sermon series by Andy Stanley talking about “Guardrails” in our life. Andy’s contention is that if we set up protective guardrails (pre-decisions) and hold ourselves accountable to them, then we greatly increase our chances to continue functioning, as we feel called.

Now, that sounds great in text book format… but thinking in terms of real life…

When I was 22 years old, I had built a modest multi-level marketing business up. From graduation of high school at 18, to this date, I had assembled roughly 125 people in my organization and received too much admiration for a young adult to handle. Being the approval addict that I was, I very quickly found myself chasing achievements to only get another “atta boy” or “how did you do it, Rob” from the next person in line. My definition of success was, indeed, tainted with my flesh pattern of this approval addiction.

While the waves of emotions were naturally interlaced into this venture, I found myself losing heart toward the 3rd year of involvement. I was in a destructive relationship with an ex-girlfriend, my health was the worst it had ever been, and my “inner circle” relationship had begun to deteriorate. I found my identity slowly becoming fake, veneer… even a painted image of what I felt other people wanted to see. I was unsettled, unhappy, and empty.

Pride was the catalyst for my indecision to resign from my multi-level marketing business. Pride comes before they fall (Proverbs 16:18). For the final 12 months of “building my dream business” I found myself indecisive on when to step away, how to step away, what would I step into, what would other people think of me. The inner turmoil was crippling and debilitating to all other areas on my life wheel. Relationships crumbled, my perception of God was reduced to a cosmic vending machine, I was heavier than I had ever been, and the only friendships I had were from people who wanted something from me or those I wanted something from.

Indecision is poison. For me, in this case, it greatly distracted me from the pursuit of a God-Sized calling on my life. But now I know.

What I’m learning is that leaders, entrepreneurs, business people have to MAKE THE CALL sometimes. It isn’t always easy, but we must make a decision.

The key is not simply making the decision, but pre-establishing “guardrails” and/or methods in HOW you will make the decision. A simple approach to this could be:

1. Pray for clarity and the Holy Spirit’s intervention
2. State the problem
3. Get the advice and opinions of others
4. List the alternatives
5. Choose the BEST alternative (not always perfect)
6. ACT.

I will chose, from this day forth, to stand up to the decisions that must be made. My prayer is that God would lead me to make clear decisions that bring Glory to Him.


Don’t have much time to type the details of this, but one of my staff members just came in my office to check in. Unsolicited, they told me how frustrating it has been for them to deal with the indecisiveness of our current President of this company. I allowed this staff member to explain, and the core issue of indecisiveness has confused team members for the past 10+ years. This person also told me that they endorse my vision, and drive to lead the company well. That is a very quick recap, but interesting to note in light of my previously typed thoughts….