Decision Ban.

When you’re busy, sometimes the biggest hack is to stop making new decisions.

Have you heard of ‘decision fatigue’?

Decision fatigue is the idea that as you make more decisions, the quality of your decisions decline.

Because your brain uses more juice to process information that’s new, when it’s tired, some of the previously made decisions can slip by.

That’s a risk when you’re in the business of having a professional reputation for being someone who either executes well or comes up with good ideas.

So you need a plan.

Have you ever considered a ‘decision ban’ at work?

A decision ban is saying no to new ideas or decisions for a short period of time.

Instead, you expend your energy on actioning decisions you’ve already made.

You’re not introducing new information to your brain.

Instead, you’re activating autopilot.

By doing so, you’re conserving energy and you’re focussing on execution, not idea generation (and praying the execution matches).

Could a decision ban be right for you during busy times?

What does a decision ban look like?

A decision ban means documenting new ideas as they come up, but not putting them into action, or assigning resources to look into them if you’re a leader.

It’s simply letting new ideas happen without jumping into action.

Instead, act on what was already in the calendar. Ban making any new commitments or decisions.

Knowing when to stop is just as important as when to innovate.

A decision ban is honouring decisions you’ve already made. Less thinking during a busy time and more doing less, well.

The idea of a decision ban is to give your ideas a fighting chance by honouring them.

You’re smart. You’ve made good decisions. What if they got a chance?

What do you think?

The case for not improving for short spurts.

Sometimes the real boss move is doing the things you’ve already decided to do well.

By not stopping to marvel at your improvements, you can carry on thinking what you’ve created isn’t good enough, strong enough, smart enough, big enough and so on.

Stopping to see your ideas actually come to life and work is evidence for that inner critic that you do know a thing or two.

Your execution is proof.

For example, you can always improve something if it exists, but you can’t improve what you haven’t started.

“But … what if it’s not the right decision?”

There is no such thing as a perfect decision, ideal execution, or flawless strategy.

Your brain is clever. It loves the path of least resistance.

Creating more to-do lists or reasons why you can’t execute yet, out of fear of the perfect idea or decision, is avoiding executing.

A decision ban helps you execute and work with your brain's creative ways to avoid you to take action.

A decision ban protects you, my team, and the business you’re in.

A decision ban gives your colleagues language to manage your expectations.

They get permission, authority, and the language to say no to you, with confidence.

If you want results, you also need discernment.

Sometimes in the pursuit of ‘more’, we have to be willing to do more with less.

That often means more time to do less things, well. Not more things, less well.

A decision ban means you can actually cash in those good decisions your previous self has already made.

By going on a decision ban, you give your business, team, and your career a real fighting chance.

The decision ban quick guide.

• Decide how long you’ll ban new ideas or decisions. e.g. Dec - Feb.

• Remind yourself of the good ones you’ve already made. Assigning ‘blanket statements’ can create criteria. E.g. ‘we don’t do any new workshop topics until 2025’.

• Tell people you’re banning new ideas for a short time period.

• Document new ideas as they come up.

• When the decision ban expires, revisit it. What do you notice?