Too many choices
A very simplistic way to cut through the noise
Photo by Monty Allen on Unsplash
While talking to founders I have noticed a challenge of having too many choices and options which causes noise and confusion. Though this is a clear sign of an abundant mindset; it presents a mammoth challenge, following is one simple way you can overcome it and get clarity.
This is not a magical way to find a quick solution but a simple scorecard that will help you prioritise your actions and get out of a stalemate.
Step1: Start by listing out all the possible actions that you can take, let your imagination run wild. We are deliberately starting from action and not listing choices you have as we can only control the potential actions. This process will help you generate actions that you may not have envisaged. Your focus should be on what you can do and not what you need to have. Action precedes clarity.
Step 2: Relate it to the likely outcomes each of your actions can bring. If you have some time handy you can split it into short, medium and long-term outcomes. If you still have some more time at hand you can further think about the time horizon in many years.
Step 3: You can list out the impact of the outcomes and benefits. For example, if ease of signup is the outcome then more signups can be the impact and increased traction could be the benefit. These can supplement the benefits that your projected financial report may be missing. Sometimes when the projected financials are exponential these benefits can explain to your investors how you arrived at those magical projections. This will help differentiate the outcomes with benefits that may have a compounding effect while the others are linear. Each outcome will have some impact on the other part of the business. Sometimes you may not have a benefit but a risk that action may end up producing.
Step4: Consider the market changes that may happen as actions across various time horizons, though you may not create or control them; you cannot ignore them. List out the impacts, benefits in various time frames (say short, medium and long term) and the risks (say short, medium and long term).
Step 5: Explore how you will minimise, mitigate and migrate the risk while you are looking at maximising benefit.
Step 6: Does this align with your vision, perhaps a score would help. You can set a threshold that will help you prioritise your actions.
Many founders have their own ways of doing it, which is great. This is just one. Choose what works for you. Here is an example of how this scorecard/table might look like.
This may not solve all your problems, however, will give you one option to move forward. As you take action in a direction, you will get more clarity on what happens on its periphery. Focussed action and outcomes that are goal aligned will give you momentum to spear ahead. Good Luck
If you think this will be of benefit to someone please share, if you have any questions or comments, please do reach out to me
References:
- Thinking, fast and slow by Daniel Kahneman
- Thinking Strategically by Dixit and Nalebuff
Acknowledgments:
- Though the question of too many choices was raised before, this article came about as the response to an interesting question raised by Anastasha the founder of
https://editonthespot.com/ with her co-founder, she is building an amazing platform for video editing with a super interesting business model. Please do check them out.
© Sameer Babbar
sbabbar@sameerbabbar.com
