Successful people definitely seem to have a secret.
They take action. Not on everything. Not all the time. But when they see an opportunity, they make a decision with confidence.
I live in Wisconsin and have been a lifelong Green Bay Packer fan. One of the best, and most interesting, players of the last few decades has been Charles Woodson. When he got to Green Bay he turned into a turnover machine.
When you would watch him in interviews or listen to him talking about his game he would say that he trusted his instincts. He put in the work to watch game film and study plays, quarterbacks and receivers. Then when he noticed something familiar in real time he would take action and often make a big play.
The struggle for many players in the NFL and for many of us in real life is not trusting your instincts, your training and your preparation. We do the work to learn as much as we can (most of us at least) but when the time comes to take action we sit back and wait for something to happen.
It never does.
Maybe it’s procrastination. Maybe it’s perfectionism. Maybe it’s fear of being judged or the fear of being wrong.
It doesn’t matter. If you don’t take action, especially when you’re prepared, you’re never going to achieve great or even good things for your life. You’re doomed to a life of talking about doing things, but never doing them. Or never really giving them a good chance. Talking about it feels good for a little bit, but that quickly wears off. It’s a mirage that distracts you from taking action.
The key to being decisive is to learn to take action. The more action you take in all types of situations the better you’ll become at making better decisions. It’s the same in business and in personal settings as well.
Don’t worry about what others think. And especially don’t worry about regret. If we focus on regrets and let it hamper our future we’ll fall into the trap of never making decisions. Regrets happen. Failure happens. You can learn from it, but don’t let it stop you from making decisions in the future. Especially decisions that you’re prepared to make.
Charles Woodson didn’t become that turnover machine until his 9th season in the NFL. He won Defensive Player of the Year in his 12th season. He was always a confident player. He was always more decisive than his peers. But he really came into his own in those later years in Green Bay. He knew that he had the experience to trust himself.
Was he right 100% of the time? No. But he was right very often. And his play and leadership and influence on those around him led his team to a Super Bowl in his 13th season as a pro.
Learn from Charles Woodson. Make decisions. Prepare. Learn from the decisions you make and their outcomes and keep making decisions and trusting yourself.