Make Up Your Mind

[Music] Hi everyone, welcome back to Turn This Way, the podcast where we explore the mindset shifts that help you lead with clarity. I've called this episode "Make Up Your Mind" because today we're talking about something that seems simple in the surface, but quietly impacts every dream, every goal, and every business ventry you'll ever pursue. If you're thinking about opening your first hospitality business, or perhaps you're already in the early stages of building one, you may believe your biggest challenges are funding, staffing, location selection, or creating the perfect menu. But often, the biggest obstacle appears much earlier. It's in decision, not making a choice, waiting, second guessing, researching endlessly. Wondering if there's a better option around the corner. And before you know it, six months, a year, or even five years have passed. We've seen it in person, time, and time again. Dreams that sit as dreams because entrepreneurs couldn't make a choice. Today we're going to explore why this happens, what psychology teaches us about decision-making, and how you can move forward with confidence even when you don't have all the answers. So grab a coffee, take a walk, or settle into your favorite chair, and let's turn this way. One of the most fascinating things about the human brain is that it was never designed to make us successful. That's something we need to consciously work for. It was designed to keep us safe. Thousands of years ago caution helped us survive. When we were all cave people, our brains were designed to ensure that we can survive and not be eaten by a dinosaur. Today, that same wiring can make us hesitate every time we face uncertainty. Sadly, our brain often treats decisions as possible threats. Even if it's deciding what color the menu cover should be. I'm serious here. How many of us have agonized over minor decisions, worried it will be the wrong choice? Too many of us. Our brains naturally ask, "What if this doesn't work? What if I lose money? What if people judge me? What if I choose wrong?" The brain often treats uncertainty as danger. I appreciate that it saves me from potential major threats. But the little ones? Well, the result is that we delay decisions because delaying feels safer than risking a mistake. But here's the problem. No decision is still a decision. Choosing not to act is choosing to stay where you are. And while that may feel safe, it often comes with a hidden cost. Lost time and lost opportunity. I want you to pause and think about this question. What decision have you been postponing for more than three months? Maybe it's signing a lease? Maybe it's registering your business? Maybe it's hiring a consultant or coach? Maybe it's deciding whether entrepreneurship is really for you? Take a moment and identify it. Now ask yourself, am I gathering information or am I avoiding discomfort? Those are very different things and something you need to be aware of. Many aspiring business owners believe that if they gather enough information, they'll eventually discover the perfect decision. The flawless location, the ideal business model, the perfect timing, the perfect menu, the perfect launch date, but here's the reality. Perfect decisions don't exist. They are a myth. It is the action you take after making the decision that typically dictates the outcome. Successful entrepreneurs aren't people who always make the right choice. They're people who make a choice and then work to make it right. Think about it. If you interview 10 successful restaurant owners, you'll hear stories about locations that they weren't sure about. Concepts that evolved. Menions that changed. Marketing plans that failed. Success didn't come from certainty. It came from commitment. It came from the moment they stopped debating and started building. Is there trial and error? Absolutely. Is it important to gather information first to make informed decisions? Of course. Does that info gathering need to take months? Most likely not. Many people are waiting for a certain feeling before they make a decision. I want you to ask yourself, what am I waiting to feel before I move forward? Confidence, certainty, guarantees. Now consider this. What if confidence comes after the decision and not before it? Because from most entrepreneurs, that's exactly how it works. Sometimes indecisiveness doesn't stem from fear of making the wrong choice. Sometimes it comes from waiting for something better. This is a specially common in hospitality. If you find a location, then another one becomes available. You create a concept, then you see someone else's concept online. You interview a candidate, then wonder if a better one is out there. We recently worked with a client who lost out on three well-qualified and good fit candidates for a management position because they were waiting for the perfect person. Well guess what? When they circled back around to offer the job to these candidates, they had already moved on to other positions. All three of them. So it was back to the beginning of the process all over again, and they lost on an entire month. Psychologists call this maximizing. Maximizers constantly search for the absolute best option. The opposite of maximizers are satisficers. Satisficers choose an option that meets their criteria and then they just move forward. Interestingly, research has found that maximizers often experience more stress, more regret, and less satisfaction with their decisions. Because they're always wondering, what if there is something better? Hospitality entrepreneurs can spend years chasing better, better location, better timing, better investors, better equipment, better market conditions. Meanwhile, someone else opens their doors. And while they open their doors, they learn, they adapt, they improve, and gain momentum. The truth is this. Progress beats perfection every single time, especially if you surround yourself with the right team and advisors. I'm going to ask you to imagine two aspiring cafe owners. Owner A spends three years searching for the perfect location. Owner B chooses a good location after six months and opens. Was Owner B's location perfect? Probably not. But after three years, Owner B has real customers, real feedback, real revenue, and real experience. Owner A still has a dream, while Owner B has a business. That's the power of deciding. I know why it's hard. There are just far too many choices out there. So let's talk about choice overload for a minute. Modern entrepreneurs have access to endless information, podcasts, books, courses, YouTube videos, social media experts, consultants, mentors, industry reports. And while information is valuable, too much information from too many sources can create paralysis. When we have too many options, our brains become overwhelmed, instead of choosing, we freeze. The irony, more options don't necessarily create better outcomes. They often create more anxiety. Some entrepreneurs want to ask everyone around them for their opinion or advice in order to help guide them towards their own decision. And while friends, family, colleagues, and advisors are all well-meaning, the sheer amount of differing opinions can be overwhelming. This is why so much, entrepreneurs find themselves stuck in planning mode forever. Every new piece of information introduces another possibility, and another decision, and another reason to wait. Keep it simple. Have two to three selected individuals to ask advice from. Keep your choices narrowed to the top two to three and decide from there. Go ahead and grab a notebook or open the notes app on your phone, and I'm going to ask you to write down, "What is the single most important decision I need to make right now?" Not five decisions, not ten, just one. Now ask yourself, "What information do I genuinely need to make this decision?" You're going to write that down. And then, "What information am I collecting? Simply because I'm afraid to commit." That distinction can change everything. Here are four practical strategies for handling choice overwhelm, because sooner or later you just have to make up your mind. The first strategy is to set decision deadlines. Without deadlines, decisions can stretch forever. Give yourself a date, for example. I will decide on my business name by Friday. I will choose my POS system by the end of the month. We do a lot of this work for our clients, suggesting and setting deadlines to ensure the project moves ahead, because deadlines force action. Strategy number two, limit your options. Don't compare twenty possibilities. Compare three. Too many options create confusion, whereas a smaller set creates clarity. Choose three designers, three locations, three contractors, etc. and then choose from there. Strategy number three is to define success before you choose. You need to be aware of what matters most, because that will help guide your decision making. For example, if your goal is family-friendly dining, evaluate locations through that lens. If your goal is profitability, evaluate decisions through that lens. When your criteria are clear, decisions will start to become a little bit easier. And the last strategy is to accept that every decision includes trade-offs. Many people avoid decisions because they are not going to be able to do it. They want all the benefits without any drawbacks. We want the easy road right? That just isn't reality. Every choice closes some doors and opens others. Successful entrepreneurs accept trade-offs and move forward anyway. Here's something important. The day you open your hospitality business, people will begin looking to you for decisions. Your team, your suppliers, your guests, your partners, leadership requires decisiveness, not perfection, decisiveness. I want to be clear that it doesn't mean rushing. It means gathering reasonable information, making the best choice available and moving forward. If you're struggling to make decisions before opening your business, that challenge won't magically disappear afterward. The good news? Decisiveness is a skill. And like any skill, it gets stronger with practice. Every decision you make will build confidence for the next one. As we wrap up today, I want to leave you with a simple thought. Your future business isn't waiting for certainty. It's waiting for commitment. There will always be more information, more options, more possibilities, more reasons to wait. But there comes a moment when the research has been done. The planning has happened, the vision is clear enough, and there's no dinosaur waiting to tear you apart. The next step is simply deciding. Not because you're guaranteed success, but because movement creates opportunities that waiting never will. The path will become visible when you start walking. Here's your challenge for the week ahead. Identify one decision you've been delaying. Just one. Give yourself a deadline within the next seven days. Make the decision, then take one action that supports it. Now next month, not when you're ready, this week. Because clarity often follows action, not the other way around. Thank you for joining me for this episode of "Turn This Way." I hope it encouraged you to make up your mind on some decisions you may have been delaying. If this conversation resonated with you, I'd love for you to share it with another entrepreneur, hospitality professional, or a dreamer who may be stuck in the waiting room of indecision. And remember, you don't have to know every step. You just have to take the next one. Until next time, keep moving forward, keep growing, and keep turning this way. (gentle music) (upbeat music)