Business

five fast ways to make quicker and better decisions

Five Fast Ways to Make Quicker and Better Decisions

Business, Goals and Business Planning, Helpful Tips, Strategic Thinking
five fast ways to make quicker and better decisions

Five Fast Ways to Make Quicker and Better Decisions

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Being an efficient decision-maker can often make a difference in missed opportunities.  You have to be decisive, and often you have to make quick decisions, but you want to be sure you are making the best choice.  So how do you make quicker and better decisions? How do you become more accurate and effective at making decisions when it counts?

You have to be decisive. Making important decisions in less time means more power and control over your life. It also means that you will have the opportunity to gain the trust of others. Being able to make important decisions will enhance your business and personal life.

Start with making small decisions in a timely fashion to help train your brain to think through questions more quickly. You will be surprised at how quickly our brains can be conditioned. Follow these five tips to help put your decision-making process in the fast lane.

What is the Objective?

Your S.M.A.R.T. goals will play a vital part in your decision-making process. Knowing the objectives of the decision and knowing your mission will help make the decision-making process simple.

Ask Yourself: "What are we really trying to do here?"

Write it out, brainstorm, and discuss. Is it your role to solve this problem? Do you have the tools needed? It is vital that your decision, any decision, is within your mission.

Seek Out Wisdom and Knowledge

Seek out wise counsel. Really. If you are surrounded by more experienced professionals who have done what you are about to do, ask questions and inform yourself. Do needed research. Don’t let pride or proving that you have it “all under control” blind you to great resources all around you.

It Does NOT Have to be Perfect

Don’t overthink - just start. Make a plan. An imperfect, real plan. Start doing the work that is deciding and solving. Take note of the effects and response to your action. This way, you can adjust if needed.

Adjust Early...

…it’s ok to fail, but fail fast and move on.

Be humble - adjust early if needed. Don’t run the train off the track because you are unwilling to admit that you made a mistake. If your choice was wrong, own up to it in a professional way and make things right to the best of your ability. It’s better to win the fight after a change of tactics than to get knocked out by your own ego and pride.

Decision-making does not have to be tedious and stressful. An important part of the process is to know what you truly have power over, to control only what YOU can control.  If it’s not your decision to make, stay out of the control room.  Zero in only on what you have the ability to decide on. This means staying focused and being able to take action without becoming overwhelmed by the details.

With the right attitude, planning, and strategy, you can become a faster, more efficient, and competent decision-maker. This is a great tool for the corporate world and everyday life.

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Pros and Cons and Filing Your Taxes Early

Pros and Cons of Filing Your Taxes Early

Bookkeeping, Business, Income Tax Preparation
Pros and Cons and Filing Your Taxes Early

Pros and Cons of Filing Your Taxes Early

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Do you rush to file your tax returns as soon as possible? Do you gather all your documentation and stand at the IRS virtual door on opening day? As with everything, filing early has its pros and cons, but is filing early really a good idea?? Like many things in life, the answer is, “It depends.”

Not every situation is conducive to filing early. Filing for an extension and putting it off as long as possible may make more sense for some filers. Read on to learn the good, the bad, and sometimes the downright ugly of filing early and why waiting might be best.

The Good

Your security. This is probably the best reason to file early and therefore makes #1 on my list. Filing your taxes early can protect you from would-be cyber thieves.

The IRS will only allow one return per social security number, and it’s first come first served. If your social security number has been hijacked, you will get a rejection notice from the IRS.

At this point, you will need to file a claim and start the process of proving your identity, and you will have to show proof you weren’t involved in committing fraud against the IRS. Most of these cases do not get resolved until after tax season. Protect yourself now! Get ahead of the cybercrooks by protecting your computer and devices. Enroll in Cybersecurity At Home and discover how quick and simple it is to secure your home network.

Receive your refund sooner. Obviously, It’s your money! Who doesn’t want their money as quickly as possible?

If you’re owed a tax refund, then the earlier you file, the faster the refund. This is especially true if you’re going to mail your return (yes, 30% still use the mail). As you can probably imagine,  the IRS is less busy in February than in April.

Be free of the mental clutter. It has to get done one way or the other. It makes sense to get it over with and free yourself from it hanging over your head. Life is easier if you don’t procrastinate. Just do it.

The post office is less crowded. Remember what I said about 30% still mail their returns? That’s over 62 million of the adult US population trying to use the post office at roughly the same time. Many people don’t want to file electronically for a variety of reasons, one being security! Avoid the crowds and file early.

You won’t be late. I have a knack for stating the obvious. How can you be late if you file early?

Many of us plan to do things with the best of intentions, then life happens, and they usually end up waiting until the last minute.

I don't have to point out how risky that can be. What if you find out that you’re missing some key piece of information? What if you get sick? There are too many variables in life to put off something like filing your tax return until the last minute.

You’ll be more accurate. Starting your return early will keep you from rushing through it, thus ensuring that you have everything you need and that it’s done correctly. Remember, slow and steady wins the race. If you’re not rushed for time, you’ll be more likely to avoid errors.

The Bad

Why pay early? You want to file early when you expect a refund, but why would you want to pay early? It's your money!

If you owe the IRS, you’ll want to keep it as long as you can, maybe even make a little more in interest. It makes sense to keep your money as long as you can.

You might end up having to file a corrected return later. W-2s and 1099s are due February 1; however, It’s not uncommon to get them late or for providers to come back a month after sending your documentation and say, “Oops, we made a mistake.” Taking a little extra time to file your return will give you that much more time to gather your documents and ensure that you don’t have to do it more than once.

The Ugly

Early filers have a greater chance of being audited. If you file early, are you more likely to get audited? I’m not sure if we can ever answer that definitively. Still, it is believed that if the vast majority of the population is filing at the last minute, the odds of being selected are minimal due to the sheer number of tax returns the IRS agents must handle. Truth or fiction? No one knows, but why take a chance.

Consider the above factors when deciding to file your tax return. If you’re in a situation that puts you at risk of being audited, and you don’t need your refund or copies of your return right away, it can be wise to wait.

On the other hand, if your return is simple, you’re due a refund, and you need the refund now; there’s no time like the present to file your return.

Assess your situation and make the smart choice for your circumstances.

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self-sabotaging behaviors

SELF-SABOTAGING BEHAVIORS THAT KEEP YOUR BUSINESS FROM SOARING

Business, Helpful Tips
self-sabotaging behaviors

Self-Sabotaging Behaviors That Keep Your Business From Soaring

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No matter how successful you are, at one time or another you’ll fall into the self-sabotage trap, we all do, and the price is high.

  • Your income will suffer.
  • Your self-esteem will plummet.
  • Your confidence will find new lows.

The result? Frustration. Burnout. Resentment of your clients, or your business, or both! Self-sabotaging behaviors lead to more self-sabotaging behaviors. Think of it as getting stuck in a revolving door. You keep pushing the door past the opening that lets you out, but never jump off.

Does this sound like you? Maybe you started a downward spiral due to all the changes with the pandemic. With all the negative reporting from the media, it wasn't difficult to do. Perhaps you are not sure. Maybe you have some sparks of recognition, but it's not that bad? No matter what level your may be, I have good news! Stopping this descent is easy when you learn to recognize the symptoms.

Procrastination

Were you going to send a proposal to a potential new client, but waited too long? Or maybe you were going to get your books in order, or make an appointment with your tax preparer, and now they’re booked solid and taxes are due in two days!

These, and other missed opportunities, can often be blamed on simple procrastination, one of the most destructive habits we fall victim to. Procrastination is what keeps us working late at night to make a deadline, costs us money in late fees, and even costs us business.

If you are prone to procrastination, here are a few techniques you can try to put an end to it:

  • Recognize your fear. What often keeps us stuck is simple fear. We are afraid of failing, afraid we’ll look bad when compared to other proposals, so we just don’t send one. But if you want to be successful in business, you must learn to recognize and face your fears, then do the work anyway.  What if it doesn't work out? Learn from it, dust yourself off, and get back on that horse!

It's ok to fail, but fail fast."  - Leonard Lauder, Chairman Emeritus of The Estée Lauder Companies Inc

  • Visualize the life and business you desire. Imagine what it will be like to have that amazing business you’ve been dreaming about. Picture your ideal workday, daydream about that fabulous vacation you’ll take, and imagine your ideal client. Put together a vision board and look at it, really look at it, once a week. Always keep your goals top of mind.
  • Reward yourself. It’s okay to give yourself a little incentive for getting things done. It’s even number six of the Eight-Stage Change Process John Kotter talks about in Leading Change. He suggests generating short-term wins and “visibly recognizing and rewarding people who made the wins possible”, that includes you! Take yourself out to lunch; buy a new pair of shoes; take an afternoon off. Do what’s most likely to motivate you to power through your fears and take the next step.

Failing To Complete Your Projects

Be honest. How many partially planned programs, and unfinished projects are on your task list right now?

If you’re like a lot of entrepreneurs, the answer is probably several.

You started all of them with great enthusiasm. You planned out the project, created the workflow, and maybe even outlined the marketing strategy. And then…you just stopped working on it.

Maybe you tell yourself that you’re too busy. Maybe you “need to do some more research.” Or maybe you simply lost interest. But the truth is, none of those are the real reason. For many, this self-sabotaging habit is a symptom of a lack of confidence, and it is keeping you from the success you deserve.

Consider this: You cannot know the actual success rate of a program you have never finished, and you cannot improve upon something you have never completed. So rather than filling your task list with half-finished projects, power through and start getting them done.

“Make a commitment to focus on the priority task now, not later, not even tomorrow.” -  How To Finish Everything Your Start, Jan Yager

Negative Self-Talk

       “I’ve never been good with money.”

“I hate budgets.”

             “I’ll never be a 6-figure earner.”

“My market won’t pay premium prices.”

If you have ever heard these statements come out of your mouth—or even in your head—then you are engaging in a damaging habit known as negative self-talk. By telling yourself these lies (and yes, they are lies) you are reinforcing the beliefs that go along with them.

“Thoughts become things!” -  Mike Dooley; excerpt from The Secret, Rhonda Byrne

Tell yourself you are not good with money, and you won’t be. Believe that budgets are horrible chores to be disparaged, and you’ll resist creating one. Convince yourself that you can’t earn a 6-figure income, and you won’t.

It’s not “the secret.” It’s a scientific fact known as a self-fulfilling prophecy, this kind of self-talk results in poor performance simply because we act as if it’s already true.

The first step toward changing your negative self-talk is to simply acknowledge that you do it. Tick a mental checkbox every time you catch yourself making negative statements, whether out loud or in your head.

The next time you catch yourself saying “I’m no good with money,” take a minute to recall 5 instances where you were good with money. Maybe you paid off your credit cards or saved for a house or built an emergency fund. Rephrase your self-talk to, “I used to be bad with money, but now I make smart choices to achieve my goals.”

Just as negative self-talk becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, so does positive self-talk. Re-frame your thinking, and your business finances will certainly improve.

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